A viscous lidocaine mouthwash is no better than placebo for improving oral intake in children with painful mouth ulcers

Commentary on: Hopper SM, McCarthy M, Tancharoen C, et al. Topical lidocaine to improve oral intake in children with painful infectious mouth ulcers: a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Ann Emerg Med 2014;63:292–9.[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] Ulcerative oral conditions, infectious (herpetic gingivostomatitis, herpangina, hand, foot and mouth disease) and non-infectious (pharyngitis, gingivostomatitis and aphthous), are often observed in children.1 While most conditions are benign, they can be highly painful, impair food intake, and, more specifically, result in dehydration in young children. Aetiological therapies of viral ulcerations are of low efficacy and interest in the case of emergency treatment. Other treatments, which solely treat the symptoms of painful mouth ulcers, are essentially anaesthetics (eg, lidocaine, benzocaine and diphenhydramine) or coating agents (such as sucralfate, Maalox, milk of magnesia and Kaopectate).2 ,3 Until now, no study has evaluated the effect of viscous lidocaine on liquid oral intake … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DAnn%2BEmerg%2BMed%26rft.volume%253D63%26rft.spage%253D292%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1016%252Fj.annemergmed.2013.08.022%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F24210368%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.08.022&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=24210368&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febmed%2F19%2F5%2F179.atom