Topical pharyngeal anesthesia for easing endoscopy: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

The aim of this work was to compare the efficacy of the Cetacaine topical anesthetic spray preparation to placebo. Cetacaine and placebo, from coded but otherwise identically packaged and scented sprays, were administered to 150 consecutive patients. After endoscopy, patients and physicians completed questionnaires evaluating the difficulty of the endoscopy. No statistically significant differences were found between the full formula and placebo-treated patient responses to the amount of cough or gag, or the degree of difficulty of intubation of the endoscope. Analysis of physician responses showed that in the subgroup of patients being endoscoped for the first time, the gastroscope was introduced more easily (p less than 0.05) when the premedication had been full formula rather than placebo.