Dr Mark Moore

Mark Moore, MD
Tallahassee Anesthesiology, PA

Anesthesia Medications

Lidocaine

Lidocaine
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Lidocaine (Brand name Xylocaine): Both an anesthetic and an antiarrhythmic (antidysrhythmic) lidocaine, in different preparations, may be used to prevent or control an irregular cardiac rhythm, as a regional anesthetic in epidurals or nerve blocks, and as a topical anesthetic for local skin disorders.
Lidocaine was synthesized in 1943 by Lofgren to be used as an alternative to procaine, the first synthetic local anesthetic, and cocaine, the natural derivative of the plant Erythroxyon coca. Lidocaine has several uses in anesthesia practice. As an antiarrhythmic lidocaine hydrochloride is administered without preservatives intravenously. It acts by decreasing depolarization, automaticity, and excitability of the hearts ventricles during diastole effectively reversing ventricular arrhythmias. As a local anesthetic it inhibits nerve impulse conduction causing temporary loss of feeling and sensation.