Effect of CoolSense and EMLA Cream on Pain During Intravenous Cannulation in Pediatric Population: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

To compare the efficacy of CoolSense and EMLA cream on pain reduction during intravenous cannulation in the pediatric population. A total of 140 American Society of Anesthesiologist I/II children of 6–12 y requiring intravenous cannulation before induction of anesthesia were randomized into two groups of 70 each. Before intravenous cannulation, group I received CoolSense pretreatment while group II received EMLA cream pretreatment. The primary outcome was to assess the efficacy of CoolSense and EMLA cream on pain reduction during intravenous cannulation. The secondary outcomes included the anxiety level of children, successful first attempt at cannulation, technical difficulties faced, adverse reactions, and parents’ satisfaction score. There was a significant reduction in pain scores during intravenous cannulation in the CoolSense group compared to the EMLA cream group (mean pain score 7.14 ± 4.322 versus 29.32 ± 8.95, p value 0.001). Comparison of pre- and postprocedural anxiety levels showed a decrease in the anxiety level in the CoolSense group (p value = 0.003) as compared to the EMLA group. The duration of application of CoolSense was significantly less than EMLA cream. CoolSense was more efficacious in reducing the pain of intravenous cannulation than the EMLA cream. In the pediatric population, CoolSense appears to be a simple and rapid means of providing adequate analgesia for venous cannulation.