Reumatismo articolare acuto: il nodo del dolore nella profilassi intramuscolare

Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease resulting from a Group A streptococcus throat infection, primarily affecting children aged 5 to 15. While prophylaxis with benzathine penicillin is crucial for preventing recurrences and associated chronic rheumatic heart disease, its intramuscular administration is often painful and leads to poor compliance among patients. The addition of lidocaine to the benzathine penicillin formulation has shown to reduce injection pain and improve treatment adher-ence. However, in Italy, a commercially available formulation of benzathine penicillin with lidocaine is currently lacking, thus accessibility and potential benefits for paediatric patients are limited. There is a pressing need to introduce the formulation to enhance prophylaxis quality and ensure equitable treatment throughout the country.