However, pain relief is not a routine aspect of treatment. The Cochrane Library. Reviewers provided a descriptive summary of included trials as data pooling was not possible. No trials were included for persistent chronic pain. One double blind trial of 69 patients looked at EMLA cream versus placebo cream.
Reviewers note that the trial reported significant benefit of EMLA cream for pain.
One open trial of 43 patients looked at EMLA cream compared with a placebo cream. Each patient had eight debridements over two to nine days. Although finding suggest significant benefit of EMLA cream at debridement and at 4 hrs after debridement, reviewers point out that lack of blinding and methodological flaw of repeat assessments of the same patients suggests this information is not valid. One trial of 22 patients looked at EMLA cream versus no treatment. Information was available in abstract form only, but suggests benefit of cream in visual analogue scale ratings of pain on debridement.