Pain experienced during and after office hysteroscopy with and without intracervical anesthesia

Abstract

We designed this study to evaluate if intracervical anesthesia reduces pain experienced during and after office hysteroscopy (OH). Two hundred women undergoing OH were randomized into two groups. Group I received intracervical anesthesia (10 ml %2 prilocaine), group II did not receive any anesthesia before procedure. The intensity of pain during procedure, 30 and 60 minutes later on visual analog scale (VAS) was assessed. Groups were similar in age, parity, previous number of vaginal delivery, or presence of menopausal status. The mean of pain scores during OH was less in group I (0.82 ± 0.11) than in group II (0.86 ± 0.09) and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.04). But, the difference of mean pain scores 30 and 60 minutes after procedure between the groups were not statistially significant. In conclusion, intracervical anesthesia reduces pain experienced during OH, but this effect does not last longer.