THE EFFECT OF TOPICAL TETRACAINE GEL%4 ON PAIN REDUCTION OF DPT VACCINE IN 18 MONTHS INFANTS

pain is a multidimensional phenomenon that is defined as "an unpleasant
sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage”. Infants and
children are vaccinated before two years on several occasions. DPT injection begins from 2 monthsold and continued to 4-6-years-old for 4 times in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pain
reducing effect of topical Tetracaine in inter muscular DPT injection compared to placebo.
Materials & Methods: in this study 40 infants by the age of 18 months were divided in two groups
using random allocation, and two injections were performed for each group, using Tetracaine gel 4%
and a placebo injection. The severity of injection was recorded using the FLACC pain scale by a
pediatric registered nurse.
Result: Results showed that Tetracaine could not significantly decreased the pain severity of DPT
vaccine IM injection in case group as compared with placebo group (p>0. 05).
Conclusion: although findings of this study indicated that topical Tetracaine could not play an
important role in decreasing of pain during DPT vaccine IM injection but it did lead to faster recovery
time. The average pain intensity in the case group was less than placebo group (8. 5 vs. 9. 2). The time
to pain relief and return to baseline in case group was much lower than the placebo group. However,
more studies are needed to determine the effect of pain reduction strategies