For pain relief during a first trimester surgical aspiration, most providers use the
paracervical block, either alone or in combination with other pain control techniques. Some
providers use buffered lidocaine due to a belief that it decreases pain. Others use plain
lidocaine. At our clinics, the standard pain management protocol is using 20 cc of 1% plain
lidocaine in a two site injection. Few studies have compared buffered versus unbuffered
lidocaine for paracervical blocks during first trimester uterine aspirations. This study
seeks to determine if buffered lidocaine decreases injection pain versus plain lidocaine for
paracervical blocks.