Effect of Penetration Angle and Velocity During Intravitreal Injection on Pain. (18th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sternfeld, Amir; Schaap-Fogler, Michal; Dotan, Assaf; Alaa, Bashir; Megiddo, Elinor; Ehrlich, Rita; Livny, Eitan
• Is Part Of: Seminars in ophthalmology. Volume 36:Number 5/6(2021)
• Page Start: 437
• Page End: 443
• Publication Date: 2021-08-18
• Subjects: Intravitreal injections -- pain -- Scleral pass -- Penetration angle -- Penetration velocity; Ophthalmology -- Periodicals; Eye -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Eye -- Surgery -- Periodicals; 617.7005
• DOI: 10.1080/08820538.2021.1906914
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0882-0538

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Purpose: To evaluate the effect of velocity and angle of the intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factors on pain sensation. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to one of four injection methods: straight and fast, straight and slow, tunneled and fast, and tunneled and slow. Later, they graded their pain sensation on a Visual Analog Scale (range 0–10). Results: The cohort included 180 patients. Mean pain score was 2.81 ± 2.34. There was no statistically significant difference in mean pain score among the four groups ( p = .858); between the slow-injection (straight and tunneled) and fast-injection groups ( p = .514); and between the straight-injection (fast and slow) and tunneled-injection groups ( p = .992), nor other background variables. Conclusion: Velocity and angle of intravitreal injections are unrelated to the pain sensation. Therefore, the method may be left to the clinician's discretion. This implies that the sensation is mostly subjective.