title: Efficacy of methylprednisolone and lignocaine on propofol injection pain: A randomised, double-blind, prospective study in adult cardiac surgical patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Propofol (2, 6-di-isopropylphenol) used for the induction of anaesthesia often causes mild to severe pain or discomfort on injection. We designed this double-blind study to compare the efficacy of methylprednisolone and lignocaine in reducing the pain of propofol injection in patients scheduled for cardiac surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 165 adult patients, scheduled for elective cardiac surgery, were divided into three groups: saline (group S,n= 55), lignocaine 20 mg (Group L,n= 55) and methylprednisolone 125 mg diluted into 2 ml of distilled water (Group MP,n= 55). Drugs were administered after tourniquet application and occlusion was released after 1 min and 1/4thof the total dose of propofol (2 mg/kg) was administered at the rate of 0.5 ml/s. Pain on propofol injection was evaluated by four-point verbal rating scale. Statistical methods used included Student'st-test and Chi-square test/Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall incidence of pain was 70.9% in the saline group, 30.9% in the lignocaine group and 36.4% in the methylprednisolone group. The intensity of pain was significantly less in patients receiving methylprednisolone and lignocaine than those receiving saline (P< 0.012).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pre-treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone was found to be as effective as lignocaine in reducing propofol injection-induced pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Shivaprakash
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shivanna
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Shio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Priye
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Dipali
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sathyanarayan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jagannath
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Syed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mudassar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Durga Prasad
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Reddy
keywords: Lignocaine; methylprednisolone; pain; propofol