[Use of percutaneous anesthesia in cardiac pacemaker implantation].

Objectives: Assess the efficacy of an anesthesic cream for pacemaker implantations.
Methods: Percutaneous anesthesia was studied in a series of permanent pacemaker transvenous implantations. The anesthesic cream composed of a mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine was applied precisely over operative areas after marking the skin. Percutaneous anesthesia should be applied 2 hours before entering the operating room.
Results: This percutaneous local anesthesia was perfectly effective for simple replacement procedures. At first implantations, it was used alone in 4 out of 10 cases while intradermal injections were needed to anesthetize the deep layers in the other patients. Serum concentrations indicate very low levels which are tolerated very well.
Conclusion: Alone or combined with lidocaine infiltration, the use of an anesthesic cream is safe and effective in transvenous pacemaker surgery.