Clinical trial NCT02246179: Fractional Laser Assisted Delivery of Anesthetics
Official title: Fractional Carbon Dioxide Laser Assisted Delivery of Topical Anesthetics: a Randomized Controlled Pilot Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE4
Conditions: Local Anesthesia of the Skin.
Keywords: Fractional laser
Topical anesthesia
Drug delivery
Lead sponsor: Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Academisch Medisch Centrum - Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA)
First posted: 2014-09-22
Enrollment: 10
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of fractional CO2 laser assisted delivery of topically applied anesthetics (articaine hydrochloride 40 mg/ml and epinephrine 10 μg/ml solution and EMLA cream) regarding to anesthesia of the skin.

Detailed description: Rationale: In dermatology, many minor surgical and laser procedures are carried out under local anesthesia of the skin. Anesthesia using topical formulations is time consuming, as the anesthetic has to be applied at least one hour before treatment, and is often only partially effective. On the other hand infiltration anesthesia is often associated with discomfort and is not tolerated by patients who are for example needle phobic. In the past years, enhanced and accelerated penetration of various topically applied substances, including photosensitizers, has been proven by pretreatment of the skin with a fractional laser, creating a pattern of microscopic ablation craters.(Haedersdal et al., 2010) This improvement in drug penetration seems to be regardless of ablation crater depth.(Haak et al., 2012) There is limited evidence that transdermal lidocaine absorption can be increased by fractional laser pretreatment.(Oni et al., 2012; Oni et al., 2013) These findings might suggest that local anesthesia of the skin may be achieved by applying an anesthetic drug topically on a skin surface pretreated with a fractional laser. However, little is known about the role of the formulation of the topical drug delivered using this method.

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to assess the analgesic effect of fractional carbon dioxide laser assisted delivery of two topical anesthetics (articaine hydrochloride 40 mg/ml and epinephrine 10 μg/ml solution (AHES) and EMLA cream) compared to application of these anesthetics without fractional laser pretreatment. The secondary objective is to compare the efficacy of these two different anesthetics, when applied according to the fractional laser drug delivery principle.

Study design: Prospective, single blinded, randomized, controlled, within subject, pilot study.

Study population: 10 healthy volunteers ≥18 years, who give written informed consent Intervention: In each subject, four test regions on subject's back of 1x1 centimeter will be randomly allocated in a 2x2 design to (1) ablative fractional laser (AFXL) pretreatment (5% density, 2.5 mJ/microbeam) followed by topical application of AHES, (2) AFXL pretreatment followed by application of EMLA cream, (3) sham AFXL followed by application of AHES on the intact skin and (4) sham AFXL followed by application of EMLA cream on the intact skin. Sham AFXL will be done by delivering an AFXL pass at 5% density and 2.5 mJ/microbeam right adjacent to the region of AHES or EMLA application on the intact skin. After ten minutes incubation time, an AFXL pass will be given as a pain stimulus at each test region with 5% density and 35 mJ/microbeam. Subjects will be asked to indicate pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0-10 (0: no pain; 10: worst imaginable pain) directly after each pain stimulus.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Fitzpatrick skin type I or II
* Age ≥18 years
* Patient is willing and able to give written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* History of keloid or hypertrophic scar formation or complicated wound healing
* Presence of any active skin disease
* Known allergy to local anesthesia
* Pregnancy or lactation
* Incompetency to understand what the procedure involves
* Current complaints of chronic pain or other alterations in pain sensation (e.g. due to diabetes mellitus or lepra)
* Current treatment with systemic analgesics or other medication that can influence pain sensation
* Current treatment with anticoagulants
* Fitzpatrick skin type III-VI
* Excessive sun tan

Primary outcomes:
measure: Pain score
timeFrame: Directly after pain stimulus. After 10 minutes incubation time of the anesthetics.
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Amsterdam
country: Netherlands
facility: Netherlands Institute for Pigment disorders
Study officials:
affiliation: Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders, Department of Dermatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam
name: Albert Wolkerstorfer, MD, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam
name: Menno A. De Rie, MD, PhD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: Haedersdal M, Sakamoto FH, Farinelli WA, Doukas AG, Tam J, Anderson RR. Fractional CO(2) laser-assisted drug delivery. Lasers Surg Med. 2010 Feb;42(2):113-22. doi: 10.1002/lsm.20860.
citation: Haak CS, Farinelli WA, Tam J, Doukas AG, Anderson RR, Haedersdal M. Fractional laser-assisted delivery of methyl aminolevulinate: Impact of laser channel depth and incubation time. Lasers Surg Med. 2012 Dec;44(10):787-95. doi: 10.1002/lsm.22102. Epub 2012 Dec 4.
citation: Oni G, Brown SA, Kenkel JM. Can fractional lasers enhance transdermal absorption of topical lidocaine in an in vivo animal model? Lasers Surg Med. 2012 Feb;44(2):168-74. doi: 10.1002/lsm.21130. Epub 2012 Feb 2.
citation: Oni G, Rasko Y, Kenkel J. Topical lidocaine enhanced by laser pretreatment: a safe and effective method of analgesia for facial rejuvenation. Aesthet Surg J. 2013 Aug 1;33(6):854-61. doi: 10.1177/1090820X13496248.
citation: Ong MW, Bashir SJ. Fractional laser resurfacing for acne scars: a review. Br J Dermatol. 2012 Jun;166(6):1160-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2012.10870.x. Epub 2012 May 8.
citation: Wolfe JW, Butterworth JF. Local anesthetic systemic toxicity: update on mechanisms and treatment. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2011 Oct;24(5):561-6. doi: 10.1097/ACO.0b013e32834a9394.
citation: Hahn IH, Hoffman RS, Nelson LS. EMLA-induced methemoglobinemia and systemic topical anesthetic toxicity. J Emerg Med. 2004 Jan;26(1):85-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2003.03.003.
citation: Baron ED, Harris L, Redpath WS, Shapiro H, Hetzel F, Morley G, Bar-Or D, Stevens SR. Laser-assisted penetration of topical anesthetic in adults. Arch Dermatol. 2003 Oct;139(10):1288-90. doi: 10.1001/archderm.139.10.1288.
citation: Koh JL, Harrison D, Swanson V, Norvell DC, Coomber DC. A comparison of laser-assisted drug delivery at two output energies for enhancing the delivery of topically applied LMX-4 cream prior to venipuncture. Anesth Analg. 2007 Apr;104(4):847-9. doi: 10.1213/01.ane.0000257925.36641.9e.
citation: Shapiro H, Harris L, Hetzel FW, Bar-Or D. Laser assisted delivery of topical anesthesia for intramuscular needle insertion in adults. Lasers Surg Med. 2002;31(4):252-6. doi: 10.1002/lsm.10101.
citation: Hantash BM, Bedi VP, Chan KF, Zachary CB. Ex vivo histological characterization of a novel ablative fractional resurfacing device. Lasers Surg Med. 2007 Feb;39(2):87-95. doi: 10.1002/lsm.20405.
citation: Haak CS, Bhayana B, Farinelli WA, Anderson RR, Haedersdal M. The impact of treatment density and molecular weight for fractional laser-assisted drug delivery. J Control Release. 2012 Nov 10;163(3):335-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2012.09.008. Epub 2012 Sep 21.
citation: Togsverd-Bo K, Haak CS, Thaysen-Petersen D, Wulf HC, Anderson RR, Haedersdal M. Intensified photodynamic therapy of actinic keratoses with fractional CO2 laser: a randomized clinical trial. Br J Dermatol. 2012 Jun;166(6):1262-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2012.10893.x.