Clinical trial NCT06920381: Ethyl Chloride Spray to Reduce Pain From Local Anesthesia During Mohs Micrographic Surgery
Official title: Ethyl Chloride Spray to Reduce Pain From Local Anesthesia During Mohs Micrographic Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: EARLY_PHASE1
Conditions: Surgery
Keywords: Mohs micrographic surgery
Ethyl Chloride Spray
Lead sponsor: University of California, Davis
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-04-09
Enrollment: 80
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Intervention model description: This is a single-center, split-body study. The split-body design will involve dividing the surgical site into two equal halves, with one half (right side relative to patient) designated as the treatment side (receiving ethyl chloride spray prior to lidocaine injection) and the other as the control side (no ethyl chloride spray prior to injection).
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Fear of needles is a well-documented issue that affects many patients. This fear may cause significant anxiety in various medical situations, including in the dermatology office 1. If not properly managed, needle phobia can persist, affecting a patient's experience during each visit. This effect may compound and lead to avoidance behaviors that can delay necessary treatments 2. This issue is particularly relevant in a Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) clinic where each patient experiences several painful needle injections before the day is over.

Ethyl chloride is gaining popularity among dermatologists for its routine use in clinical practice due to its anesthetic and antiseptic properties, especially as a pre-injection agent. Research indicates that cryotherapy or pre-cooling the skin before administering a local anesthetic may offer benefits over topical anesthetics, such as enhanced pain relief, quicker onset, and better patient compliance 3,4. However, to our knowledge, no studies have specifically examined the effectiveness of pre-cooling with ethyl chloride prior to Mohs micrographic surgery. To address this gap, we're conducting a trial aimed at evaluating the impact of pre-cooling with ethyl chloride on pain perception in adult patients undergoing Mohs micrographic surgery with local anesthetic injections.

The trial is a single-center, split-body study. The split-body design will involve dividing the surgical site into two equal halves, with one half (right side relative to patient) designated as the treatment side (receiving ethyl chloride spray prior to lidocaine injection) and the other as the control side (no ethyl chloride spray prior to injection). During the procedure, the participant will be asked to rate the pain associated with the needle injection AND the pain from infiltration of anesthetic from each side of the wound using the visual analog scale (VAS) scoring system (1 = no pain, 10 = most amount of pain possible). The results of the study will help us better understand how to mitigate pain and anxiety for patients requiring MMS.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* All patients scheduled for MMS with Dr. Daniel Eisen at UC Davis Health Department of Dermatology (3301 C St #1300-1400, Sacramento, CA 95816)
* Pre-op tumor size at least 1.5 cm (measured on day of procedure)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Skin disorders related to cold temperatures (i.e. cryoglobulinemia)
* Anxiolytic medication within past 4 hours
* Treatment sites around the eyes
* Pre-op tumor size smaller than 1.5 cm (measured on day of procedure)

Primary outcomes:
measure: VAS pain scores
timeFrame: During the MMS procedure
measure: Subject response to "do you prefer precooling with ethyl chloride spray in future Mohs surgery cases?"
timeFrame: Immediately after the MMS procedure
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
References:
citation: Hamilton JG. Needle phobia: a neglected diagnosis. J Fam Pract. 1995 Aug;41(2):169-75.
citation: Abbasi H, Ali F, Aslam H, Khan MS, Waqas M, Lal A. Cryoanesthesia with ethyl chloride spray versus 5% lidocaine gel in alleviating oral local anesthetic injection pain for buccal anaesthesia: A randomized clinical (controlled) trial. J Dent Res Dent Clin Dent Prospects. 2023 Winter;17(1):40-46. doi: 10.34172/joddd.2023.37041. Epub 2023 Apr 3.
citation: Irkoren S, Ozkan HS, Karaca H. A Clinical Comparison of EMLA Cream and Ethyl Chloride Spray Application for Pain Relief of Forehead Botulinum Toxin Injection. Ann Plast Surg. 2015 Sep;75(3):272-4. doi: 10.1097/SAP.0000000000000121.
citation: Flynn A, Barry R. Use of Ethyl Chloride in Dermatology Minor Surgery. Dermatol Surg. 2016 Mar;42(3):433-4. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000000623. No abstract available.
citation: Beroukhim K, Goldberg LH, Tarantino IS, Kimyai-Asadi A. The effect of intraoperative pain on patient satisfaction during Mohs micrographic surgery. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2022 Oct;87(4):848-849. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2021.10.025. Epub 2021 Oct 22. No abstract available.
citation: Henke J, Immaneni S, Blalock T. Measuring pain and anxiety surrounding local anesthesia in Mohs micrographic surgery: A continuous and repeated-measure pilot study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2023 Dec;89(6):1298-1300. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2023.08.039. Epub 2023 Aug 23. No abstract available.
citation: Cooper DD, Seupaul RA. Does buffered lidocaine decrease the pain of local infiltration? Ann Emerg Med. 2012 Apr;59(4):281-2. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2011.05.025. Epub 2011 Aug 6. No abstract available.
citation: Shilpapriya M, Jayanthi M, Reddy VN, Sakthivel R, Selvaraju G, Vijayakumar P. Effectiveness of new vibration delivery system on pain associated with injection of local anesthesia in children. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 2015 Jul-Sep;33(3):173-6. doi: 10.4103/0970-4388.160343.