Please select the arm or intervention descriptions that belong to the clinical trial below.
Title: Challenging the Dogma: Topical Proparacaine is Safe and Effective for the Emergency Department Management of Acute Traumatic Corneal Injuries
Brief Summary: Introduction: Traumatic injuries to the outer covering of the eye (the cornea) are a common emergency department complaint. They cause significant patient distress including pain, loss of sleep and missed work days. There is currently no accepted, uniform approach to pain management in this patient population. Emergency medicine and ophthalmology texts state that prolonged use of medications that anesthetize the cornea is not recommended. Several recent publications in the ophthalmology literature show that the outpatient use of dilute local anesthesia in patients after eye surgery is a safe and effective method of pain control. In this study, we used Proparacaine (a local anesthetic), in a similar manner, for the outpatient emergency department management of traumatic corneal injuries.

Methods: We performed a clinical trial on a sample of adult patients presenting with traumatic corneal injuries to two university affiliated emergency departments in London, Canada.

Patients providing signed informed consent to participate in the study received a vial of clear liquid that contained either Proparacaine or plain water (placebo), a pain log, topical antibiotics and oral Acetaminophen (Tylenol) with Codeine for breakthrough pain.

Patients were instructed to use the "study drug" on an "as-needed" basis for the next seven days. Patients completed a pain scale describing their discomfort immediately prior to, and five minutes after self-administration of the study drug. All patients were followed closely in an ophthalmology outpatient clinic on Days 1, 3 and 5 after presentation to the emergency department. At the last ophthalmology clinic visit, the patients' pain logs were collected.

The protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board for Health Sciences Research Involving Human Subjects at the University of Western Ontario.


Options:
A: Arm Label: 1; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Drug: Proparacaine drops 0.05% | Arm Label: 2; Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Drug: saline drops | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: Proparacaine drops 0.05%; Assigned to Arm(s): 1 | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: saline drops; Assigned to Arm(s): 2
B: Arm Label: Tetracaine 0.5% ophthalmic drops; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Drug: Tetracaine 0.5% ophthalmic drops | Arm Label: placebo (Normal Saline placebo drops); Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Drug: Normal Saline placebo drops | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: Tetracaine 0.5% ophthalmic drops; Assigned to Arm(s): Tetracaine 0.5% ophthalmic drops | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: Normal Saline placebo drops; Assigned to Arm(s): placebo (Normal Saline placebo drops)
C: Arm Label: Topical tetracaine; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Drug: topical tetracaine hydrochloride 1% | Arm Label: Balanced artificial tear solution; Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Drug: Placebo | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: topical tetracaine hydrochloride 1%; Assigned to Arm(s): Topical tetracaine | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: Placebo; Assigned to Arm(s): Balanced artificial tear solution
D: Arm Label: Tetracaine Group; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Drug: Ophthalmic Tetracaine | Arm Label: Normal Saline Group; Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Other: Normal Saline | Intervention Type: DRUG; Name: Ophthalmic Tetracaine; Assigned to Arm(s): Tetracaine Group | Intervention Type: OTHER; Name: Normal Saline; Assigned to Arm(s): Normal Saline Group

Answer: A