Skin surface application of ketocaine to provide local anaesthesia for cutting split skin grafts.

Astra 2337 ketocaine-soaked pads applied to the skin surface produced analgesia adequate for split skin graft cutting 85 out of 86 patients. In 86 per cent, the analgesia was completely satisfactory; a few had some discomfort or pain but all could tolerate this. Application for 1 hour is time enough, but the effect lasts for at least 8 hours and probably longer. Apart from occasional redness and oedema of the skin, no adverse effects wer noted and the blood levels of absorbed ketocaine were far below the toxic level. This simple effective technique is of great value, particularly in such cases as burns who require multiple grafting operations and in whom repeated general anaesthetics can have such adverse effect.