Patient Satisfaction in Mohs Micrographic Surgery With Supplemental Lidocaine Jelly

Hypothesis: Supplementing lidocaine/epinephrine injections with intralesional lidocaine jelly will decrease the overall quantity of lidocaine/epinephrine injectable used, and will decrease patients' self-reported pain/anxiety associated with needle sticks.

Objectives: To assess how using lidocaine jelly in Mohs surgery impacts 1) the overall quantity of lidocaine/epinephrine injectable needed to maintain anesthesia, and 2) patients' pain/anxiety associated with anesthesia injections.

Background:

Mohs micrographic surgery is a procedure that removes cancerous lesions of the skin in a step-wise fashion. Patients are injected with local analgesia for tumor extirpation. The tumor is removed and the tissue is sent for histopathology while the patient waits. Tissue processing time can take up to 2 hours during which the effects of the local analgesia have waned. Once the tissue has been process and examined, patients are brought back to the surgical suite and either have another section of tissue removed (if the margins were positive) or have the wound reconstructed (if the margins were negative). Lidocaine Hydrochloride (Xylocaine) injection with Epinephrine is the traditionally method used to maintain local anesthesia throughout the procedure. The FDA has declared a shortage of this injectable Lidocaine/Epinephrine, stressing the need for a substitute drug. Additionally, multiple needle sticks can be uncomfortable and anxiety provoking for patients. Needle sticks on hypersensitive areas such as the nose can be particularly painful. Previous research has demonstrated that a different form of anesthetic, a topical lidocaine jelly, is efficient in prolonging anesthesia in Mohs surgery (Robins, 1991). No study has published the impact of supplemental lidocaine jelly use on the overall quantity of injection needed, nor on patient pain/anxiety associated with needle sticks.

Methods: