Ever since its discovery and availability for sale and use in the late 1940s, lidocaine has become an exceptionally commonly used medication . In particular, lidocaine's principal mode of action in acting as a local anesthetic that numbs the sensations of tissues means the agent is indicated for facilitating local anesthesia for a large variety of surgical procedures . It ultimately elicits its numbing activity by blocking sodium channels so that the neurons of local tissues that have the medication applied on are transiently incapable of signaling the brain regarding sensations . In doing so, however, it can block or decrease muscle contractile, resulting in effects like vasodilation, hypotension, and irregular heart rate, among others . As a result, lidocaine is also considered a class Ib anti-arrhythmic agent . Nevertheless, lidocaine's local anesthetic action sees its use in many medical situations or circumstances that may benefit from its action, including the treatment of premature ejaculation .
Regardless, lidocaine is currently available as a relatively non-expensive generic medication that is written for in millions of prescriptions internationally on a yearly basis. It is even included in the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines .
Lidocaine is an anesthetic of the amide group indicated for production of local or regional anesthesia by infiltration techniques such as percutaneous injection and intravenous regional anesthesia by peripheral nerve block techniques such as brachial plexus and intercostal and by central neural techniques such as lumbar and caudal epidural blocks .
The University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Centre Médico-chirurgical de Réadaptation des Massues, Lyon, France
IHOP, Lyon, France
Women's Health Care Clinic, Torrance, California, United States
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Baylor Jack and Jane Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, Texas, United States
Research Site, Stockholm, Sweden
Prentice Womens Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Dep. of anesthesiology, Hospital of Frederikssund, Frederikssund, Denmark
Jon Jacobsen, Frederikssund, Denmark
Research Site, London, United Kingdom
Aretaieio Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Attiki, Greece
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