Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: Comparison of topical anaesthetic agents for minor wound closure in children.

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether lignocaine, epinephrine, tetracaine gel is more effective than tetracaine, epinephrine, cocaine gel as a topical anaesthetic agent in minor skin lacerations that still need suturing. Three studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that lignocaine, epinephrine, tetracaine gel is as effective and is without the inherent disadvantages associated with cocaine.