Postintubation hemodynamic effects of intravenous lidocaine in severe traumatic brain injury

The risks of intravenous (IV) lidocaine before rapid sequence induction (RSI) have become a great concern. No study has investigated the hemodynamic effects of IV lidocaine during endotracheal intubation in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

We investigated whether the use of IV lidocaine before RSI was associated with postintubation hemodynamic changes in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

In this retrospective cohort study, adults who presented with isolated traumatic brain injury and definite intracranial hemorrhage were included. Patients who presented with other major injuries received prehospital intubation, had initial mean arterial pressure (MAP) less than 70 mm Hg, and/or had incomplete medical records were excluded.

A total of 101 patients (82.2% men; mean age, 48.6 ± 19.6 years) were enrolled. Forty-six patients received IV lidocaine in addition to RSI before intubation (group 1), and 55 received RSI without IV lidocaine before intubation (group 2). There were no significant intergroup differences in baseline characteristics, the number of RSI doses, or the RSI dose used, with the exception of sex, diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage, and diagnosis of subdural hemorrhage. Our results demonstrated no significant intergroup differences in MAP changes or the proportion of patients with hypotension (MAP <70 mm Hg) after intubation. Intravenous lidocaine remained unrelated to significant hypotension after adjusting for variables by logistic regression analysis.

Intravenous lidocaine in addition to RSI before endotracheal intubation was not associated with significant hemodynamic changes in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.