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A brief review of innovative uses for local anesthetics
Jeffrey L Wright1, Marcel E Durieux, Danja S Groves
1Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800710, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908-0710, USA.
Purpose Of Review:
Local anesthetics are drugs which have many potentially beneficial actions, especially when used as a continuous intravenous infusion. The following review gives an update on the most recent literature along with some interesting and promising areas where systemic local anesthetics are being implemented.
Recent Findings:
Surprisingly little research has been conducted with the use of systemic local anesthetics when considering their cost effectiveness, good side effect profile when used in low-dose infusions, and promising results in the available literature. The in-vivo studies, ranging from case reports to randomized controlled trials, have small sample sizes, yet most have found that low-dose systemic infusions are efficacious for various conditions.
Summary:
Local anesthetics have many beneficial properties, and promising results have been seen when low-dose infusions are implemented. This review briefly describes the anti-inflammatory properties of local anesthetics and discusses the benefits seen when used systemically for neuroprotection, postoperative ileus, decompression sickness, and glaucoma.
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