Topical Lidocaine Anesthesia for Nasopharyngeal Sampling

"Initially, a nasopharyngeal swab was performed on each group without any intervention. Investigators waited at least one hour for the second sample collection. If the participant was still in pain or felt discomfort due to the first sampling, the waiting time has been extended.~At the second stage, one ml of a solution containing 20 mg/ml of lidocaine, was applied to each nostril of the participants in the Lidocaine group. Thus, a total of 40 mg of lidocaine, 20 mg for each nostril, was given to the individuals of the Lidocaine group. The second samples were collected after waiting 5 minutes following the administration of the solution."

"Initially, a nasopharyngeal swab was performed on placebo group without any intervention. Investigators waited at least one hour for the second sample collection. If the participant was still in pain or felt discomfort due to the first sampling, the waiting time has been extended.~At the second stage, the Placebo group received only a total of 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl (one ml for each nostril). The second samples were collected after waiting 5 minutes following the administration of the solution."