Heated lidocaine/tetracaine patch (Synera™, Rapydan™) compared with lidocaine/prilocaine cream (EMLA®) for topical anaesthesia before vascular access

The lidocaine/tetracaine patch provided effective anaesthesia with an application time as short as 10 min and was better than lidocaine/prilocaine cream at all application times shorter than 60 min, demonstrating a substantial improvement in time to onset of anaesthesia. The lidocaine/tetracaine patch provided an important alternative to lidocaine/prilocaine cream for topical local anaesthesia.