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SEEIUC
Pharmacological option
Evidence says that EMLA has been shown to be effective in reducing the pain associated with venous punctures. Its ineffectiveness with arterial punctures is probably due to its effect being confined to pain fibres in the dermis. As veins have few pain fibres in their walls, this is all that is required for venous punctures, but arteries do have pain fibres in theirs walls. If the gel did not penetrate that deeply to reach the arterial wall, then it would be ineffective with arterial punctures.
In this way Mepivacaine infiltration is the effective method for minimizing pain from punctures of the radial artery.