SUB-TENONS VERSUS PERIBULBAR ANESTHESIA FOR CATARACT-SURGERY

We present a comparison of one quadrant sub-Tenon's anaesthesia and pe ribulbar anaesthesia. Patient discomfort during injection of anaesthet ic and during cataract surgery was assessed using a 10-point visual an alogue scale ranging from no pain to the worst pain imaginable, Data a re available for 74 patients undergoing cataract surgery under peribul bar anaesthesia and for 55 patients in whom sub-Tenon's anaesthesia wa s used, Pain scores for administration of anaesthetic were significant ly lower (Kruskal-Wallis H-test, p<0.01) for sub-Tenon's anaesthesia ( mean 1.4) compared with the peribulbar technique (mean 2.4), However, a similar number of patients experienced pain of greater than 3 for th e two techniques (10 (18.5%) for sub-Tenon's and 14 (18.9%) for peribu lbar), Per-operative pain scores for sub-Tenon's anaesthesia (mean 0.5 ) were lower than those for peribulbar anaesthesia (mean 1.2) but not significantly so (Kruskal-Wallis H-test, p = 0.073), Significantly few er patients, however, experienced pain of greater than 3 (Fisher exact test, p<0.05) in the sub-Tenon's group. In addition less anaesthetic solution and a shorter interval from administration to surgery was req uired in the sub-Tenon's group, Sub-Tenon's anaesthesia appears to be a more effective method of anaesthesia than the peribulbar method.