[Morphological changes of peripheral nerves following intraneural injection of local anesthetic]

Neurosensory disturbances of the third branch of the trigeminal nerve occur in rare cases without any operative treatment near the nerve involved. The most frequently affected nerve branches are the inferior alveolar nerve and the lingual nerve. We examined the problem of intraneural injection of local-anaesthetic solutions in an experimental study on animals. After intraneural injection of Articain (4%)-solution in the ischiadic nerve of Wistar rats and the lingual nerve of cats no toxic lesions were observed. It can be assumed that neurosensory disturbances caused by intraneural local-anaesthetic injection are the result of intraneural haematomas with consecutive fibrosis.