Patients Reported Pain after Injection to Trigger Finger with Different Needle Diameter

Background: Injection to trigger digits is an acceptable and commonly practiced treatment to trigger digit with up to 50% success rate. The procedure is painful and any measure to lower the pain of the patient is welcomed. There is neither consensus nor guide in the hand literature, as to the reported pain of such injection and the relationship between needle diameter and patient reported pain.

Objective: to check whether an injection with smaller gauge needle is less painful to patients then a larger one.

Patiants and Methods: 123 patients coming to a hand clinic with trigger finger were randomized to recieve injection with 23/25/29 gauge needle 1-2.5 CC syringe. depomedrol 8-10 m"g with 0.5-1 CC lidocaine were injected to the A1 pulley and the patients then were asked to report how much pain they had from the injection on a standard Visual Analog pain Scale rooler. Results were analyzed statistically.

Results: there was a correlation of patient reported pain to the size of the needle used. smaller needle gauge caused less pain, however it is marginally significant from the clinical point of view.