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Published on: June 25, 2016
Transitory ataxia related to topically administered lidocaine
Pascal Perney1, François Blanc, Georges Mourad
1Service de Médecine Interne E, Hôpital Saint Eloi, Faculté de Médecine de Montpellier, Montpellier, France. p-perney@chu-montpellier.fr
Objective:
To report 2 cases of transitory cerebellar ataxia related to lidocaine administered topically for endoscopy. case summaries: Two patients developed transitory cerebellar ataxia a few minutes after local anesthesia using lidocaine 10% spray and lidocaine 2% orally for a bronchoscopy and transesophageal echocardiography. This effect completely disappeared in 3-5 hours. In neither case was an alternate etiology of cerebellar ataxia identified. The second patient had previously experienced a similar reaction to lidocaine.
Discussion:
Several central neurologic effects of lidocaine have been reported, but until now, only few cases of cerebellar ataxia. In these 2 cases, the Naranjo probability scale indicated that a probable and a highly probable relationship existed between lidocaine administration and the transitory cerebellar ataxia.
Conclusions:
Cerebellar ataxia may occur after local anesthesia with lidocaine; therefore, care must be taken to avoid overdose, even when administered topically.
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