Antithrombotic effects of lidocaine and related compounds on laser-induced microvascular injury

The aim was to study whether topically applied local anaesthetics and related compounds exert an antithrombotic effect. The assay was carried out through vital microscopy of the microcirculation in the hamster cheek pouch model as injured by laser microbeam irradiation, essentially in order to record the differences in the incidence of thrombus formation between two main experimental and control series. The application of lidocaine hydrochloride was found to inhibit thrombus formation and also to restore the microcirculation after laser-induced injury. The other investigated compounds, mono-ethyl-glycinexylidide, tocainide and bupivacaine were found to be less active with regard to inhibition of thrombus formation and flow restitution effects. It is concluded that an antithrombotic effect may be attributed to lidocaine in particular.