Contribution of a heating element to topical anesthesia patch efficacy prior to vascular access: results from two randomized, double-blind studies.

Context: Pain associated with superficial procedures, including intravenous (IV) access procedures, should be prevented when possible, especially in children.

Objectives: To evaluate a topical local anesthetic patch containing lidocaine 70 mg/tetracaine 70 mg with a heating element designed to warm the skin and facilitate rapid delivery of local anesthetics into the skin. The pilot study was designed to provide data to inform the design of the definitive study to evaluate the impact of controlled heat on the efficacy of the lidocaine/tetracaine patch (patch) when applied before IV cannulation.