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* From the Departments of Anesthesiology and
Pharmacy, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Address correspondence to: Dr. Masayuki Miyabe, Department of Anesthesiology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan. Phone: 81-298-53-3088; Fax: 81-298-53-3092; E-mail: miyabe{at}md.tsukuba.ac.jp
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Abstract |
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Methods: Anesthesia was administered as an initial bolus of 5 mg•kg-1 of 1% lidocaine solution followed by continuous infusion at 2.5 mg•kg-1•hr-1. Patients in the control group (n = 8) received lidocaine alone, while patients in the epinephrine group (n = 8) received lidocaine + epinephrine (5 µg•mL-1). Concentrations of lidocaine and its active metabolite, MEGX, were measured in plasma samples obtained after 15 min, 30 min, and one, two, three, four, and five hours of infusion using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.
Results: Plasma lidocaine concentrations were higher in samples from the control group for the first hour; however, after two hours the levels were the same in all samples. Plasma MEGX levels increased continuously in both groups and were significantly higher in the control group samples. The sum of lidocaine + MEGX was higher in the control group for the first two hours but there was no significant difference between groups after three hours.
Conclusions: Reduction of the potential for systemic toxicity by the addition of epinephrine to lidocaine is limited, because the reduction of the sum of the plasma concentrations of lidocaine and its active metabolite MEGX is small and limited to the initial phase of infusion.
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Introduction |
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Methods |
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No premedication was administered. Mask anesthesia was induced using sevoflurane, nitrous oxide, and oxygen. After obtaining an iv route, vecuronium (0.15 mg•kg-1) was given to facilitate endotracheal intubation, and anesthesia was maintained with oxygen (33%), nitrous oxide (67%), and sevoflurane (0–1%). Next, the epidural space was located using a 19-gauge Tuohy needle (Portex Minipak®; Hythe, Kent, England) between the T11–12 and the L3–4 interspace and a 22-gauge epidural catheter inserted into the epidural space. A radial artery was cannulated using a 22- or 24-gauge cannula for continuous monitoring of blood pressure and blood sampling.
In the control group (n = 8), an initial bolus of 1% lidocaine (5 mg•kg-1) was administered over a 60-sec period, followed by a continuous lidocaine infusion at a rate of 2.5 mg•kg-1•hr-1. The protocol for anesthesia in the epinephrine group was identical except that 5 µg•mL-1 epinephrine were added to the lidocaine solution. The infusion was delivered by a motor-driven syringe pump (Terumo®, Tokyo, Japan). The systolic arterial blood pressure was maintained above 90 mmHg during the study period by adjusting the inhaled sevoflurane concentration and/or the administration of lactated Ringer’s solution or ephedrine. Arterial blood samples were drawn after 15 min, 30 min, and one, two, three, four, and five hours of infusion. The plasma was separated by centrifugation at 4°C and stored at -20°C until analyzed.
Plasma lidocaine and MEGX concentrations were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) detection;8 a variable wave length UV detector (Model UV-8020, Tosoh®, Japan) set for 210 nm was used in the chromatography. The HPLC column (TSKgel ODS-80TS) was equilibrated with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, methanol, and 0.05 M phosphate buffer adjusted to pH 4.0 (10:30:60, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL•min-1. Lidocaine concentrations were assessed from peak-height ratios in comparison to an internal standard. With this assay method, the extraction recoveries from plasma for lidocaine and MEGX were 98 and 90% at 10 µg•mL-1, respectively. The maximum coefficient of variation value for within-run or between-run precision was 3.3%; detection limits for lidocaine and MEGX were 10 ng•mL-1 using 250 µL of plasma sample.
Plasma 
1-acid glycoprotein (AAG) is an acute-phase protein that is responsible for binding basic drugs such as lidocaine. We measured AAG concentrations at 30 min and 60 min of infusion of lidocaine, and averaged values were compared between groups. Plasma AAG concentrations were analyzed by radial immunodiffusion kit (NOR-Partigen, Hoechst Japan Inc., Tokyo, Japan) as described before.9
Patient characteristics, plasma AAG, the amount of Ringer’s lactate, and the amount of ephedrine are expressed as median (range) and were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test. Plasma lidocaine and MEGX are expressed as the mean ± SD. Differences between the groups with respect to plasma lidocaine and MEGX were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures. Pairwise comparison of the mean values were then assessed by the Scheffe F test. Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant.
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Results |
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The mean plasma lidocaine concentration was significantly higher in the control group than in the epinephrine group during the first one hour of the lidocaine infusion. After two hours there was no significant difference in the lidocaine concentration between groups (Figure 1
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). MEGX levels were significantly higher in the control group than in the epinephrine group throughout the five-hour test period (Figure 1). The sum of the plasma lidocaine and MEGX concentrations in the control group was significantly higher than in the epinephrine group for the first two hours. However, after three hours the sum of lidocaine and MEGX concentrations did not differ between the two groups (Figure 2).
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Discussion |
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There are two possible mechanisms by which the addition of epinephrine to epidural lidocaine can affect the plasma concentration of lidocaine. One is a local effect such as a reduction of the absorption of lidocaine and the other is a systemic effect such as an increase in clearance and volume of distribution (VOD).
Some researchers theorize that, when administered together with epidural lidocaine, epinephrine reduces plasma lidocaine concentrations by constricting local blood vessels, thereby inhibiting lidocaine’s absorption into the general circulation.10 Single-dose epidural studies generally find that the addition of epinephrine to lidocaine solutions consistently reduces peak plasma concentrations by 30–40%, as compared to injection of lidocaine alone.3,5,11
Sharrock et al.12 has shown that a reduction in local anesthetic plasma concentration is achieved if epinephrine is administered intravenously, presumably because low-dose epinephrine increases the clearance and/or the VOD of lidocaine. Ward et al.13 demonstrated epidural blocks with epinephrine-containing solutions result in an increase in cardiac output and a decrease in peripheral resistance due to the ß-stimulating effects of epinephrine. Based on these reports, it is possible that decreases in the plasma concentration of lidocaine during epidural anesthesia with epinephrine-containing lidocaine are due to systemically absorbed epinephrine. However, it has been shown also that epinephrine added to epidural lidocaine has no effect on the clearance of lidocaine.14
In this study the addition of epinephrine to epidural lidocaine did not reduce the mean concentration of plasma lidocaine, except during the first hour in children. In adults, during the continuous infusion of lidocaine, we7 and others6 demonstrated that epinephrine decreased plasma lidocaine concentration only transiently. The results of the present study in children are in agreement with those findings in adults.
Our results did not enable us to determine why the effect of epinephrine is lost during the continuous epidural infusion of lidocaine. One possibility might be tachyphylaxis to epinephrine’s vasoconstricting effects. It has been reported that the intrathecal injection of epinephrine (200 µg) reduces dural blood flow for 40 min,15 but the effect of an epidural infusion of epinephrine on epidural vessels or dural blood flow is unknown.
Plasma concentrations of the principal metabolite of lidocaine, MEGX, were lower in the epinephrine group, suggesting that the addition of epinephrine to lidocaine solutions is effective in reducing the accumulation of the active metabolite of lidocaine during continuous epidural anesthesia. This may have resulted from the lower plasma lidocaine concentrations during the first hour of infusion, which would be expected to result in lower MEGX accumulation.
MEGX is an active metabolite having the same convulsant potency as lidocaine itself.16 Since lidocaine is metabolized to MEGX during infusion of lidocaine, Blumer et al.16 estimates plasma levels of 15.4 µg•mL-1 of lidocaine in combination with 3.6 µg•mL-1 of MEGX are equipotent in convulsant efficacy to a plasma level of 18.7 µg•mL-1 of MEGX. Therefore, accumulation of MEGX contributes to local anesthetic toxicity even when blood lidocaine concentrations remain within the therapeutic range.17–19 We reported previously that during continuous epidural anesthesia in infants and children with plain lidocaine, MEGX accumulation occurred even when plasma lidocaine was maintained within the normal range.2 From this study we conclude it is also true that MEGX accumulation may occur after several hours of infusion of lidocaine, regardless whether epinephrine is present or not.
The plasma levels of lidocaine at the onset of convulsions are 15.4 µg•mL-1 in rats16 and 18–26 µg•mL-1 in monkeys.20 Therefore the levels of lidocaine and MEGX in this study were well below the convulsive threshold. However toxic symptoms such as light headness, tinnitus, visual disturbance are reported at concentrations of 5 µg•mL-1 of lidocaine.20 Therefore it is possible that accumulation of lidocaine and MEGX might affect the recovery of general anesthesia even at low concentrations.
The plasma AAG is an acute-phase protein that is responsible for binding basic drugs such as lidocaine. We reported previously that plasma AAG concentration correlated with the steady-state lidocaine concentration and inversely correlated with the accumulation rate of MEGX.9 In this study the plasma AAG concentrations were not different between groups.
We measured the plasma concentrations of lidocaine and MEGX during epidural lidocaine infusion for five hours. It would be valuable to perform a study over a longer period of time such as 24 or 48 hr and we speculate that the accumulation of MEGX would reach toxic levels. However the dose we administered was for surgery, and smaller doses should be chosen for postoperative pain relief.
This study was performed under general anesthesia. Since hepatic blood flow may decrease during general anesthesia, the metabolism of lidocaine might have been decreased. Therefore, we cannot apply our results directly to awake patients.
We conclude that, during continuous epidural anesthesia for surgery in children, reduction of the potential for systemic toxicity by the addition of epinephrine to lidocaine is limited because the reduction of the sum of the plasma concentrations of lidocaine and its active metabolite MEGX is small and limited to the initial phase of infusion. Further studies of the potential toxicity of epidural lidocaine for postoperative pain relief (i.e., a prolonged administration in awake patients) in pediatric patients would be of interest.
Revision received March 18, 2002. Accepted for publication January 22, 2002.
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2 Miyabe M, Kakiuchi Y, Kihara S, et al. The plasma concentration of lidocaine’s principal metabolite increases during continuous epidural anesthesia in infants and children. Anesth Analg 1998; 87: 1056–7.
3 Braid DP, Scott DB. The systemic absorption of local analgesic drugs. Br J Anaesth 1965; 37: 394–404.
4 Tucker GT, Mather LE. Pharmacokinetics of local anaesthetic agents. Br J Anaesth 1975; 47: 213–24.
5 Mather LE, Tucker GT, Murphy TM, Stanton-Hicks MD, Bonica JJ. The effects of adding adrenaline to etidocaine and lignocaine in extradural anaesthesia II: pharmakokinetics. Br J Anaesth 1976; 48: 989–94.
6 Takasaki M, Kajitani H. Plasma lidocaine concentrations during continuous epidural infusion of lidocaine with and without epinephrine. Can J Anaesth 1990; 37: 166–9.
7 Kihara S, Miyabe M, Kakiuchi Y, et al. Plasma concentrations of lidocaine and its principal metabolites during continuous epidural infusion of lidocaine with or without epinephrine. Reg Anesth Pain Med 1999; 24: 529–33.[Medline]
8 Kohda Y, Kakiuchi Y, Miyabe M, Sato S, Toyooka H, Sagara E. Simultaneous determination of lidocaine and its deethyl-metabolites in plasma and its application to drug level monitoring in infants. J Appl Ther Res 1998; 2: 33–8.
9 Kakiuchi Y, Kohda Y, Miyabe M, Momose Y. Effect of plasma 1-acid glycoprotein concentration on the accumulation of lidocaine metabolites during continuous epidural anesthesia in infants and children. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther 1999; 37: 493–8.[Medline]
10 Tucker GT, Mather LE. Clinical pharmacokinetics of local anaesthetics. Clin Pharmacokinet 1979; 4: 241–78.[Medline]
11 Scott DB, Jebson PJR, Braid DP, Örtengren B, Frisch P. Factors affecting plasma levels of lignocaine and prilocaine. Br J Anaesth 1972; 44: 1040–9.
12 Sharrock NE, Go G, Mineo R. Effect of i.v. low-dose adrenaline and phenylephrine infusions on plasma concentrations of bupivacaine after lumbar extradural anaesthesia in elderly patients. Br J Anaesth 1991; 67: 694–8.
13 Ward RJ, Bonica JJ, Freund FG, Akamatsu T, Danziger F, Englesson S. Epidural and subarachnoid anesthesia. Cardiovascular and respiratory effects. JAMA 1965; 191: 275–8.
14 Burm AGL, van Kleef JW, Gladines MPRR, Olthof G, Spierdijk J. Epidural anesthesia with lidocaine and bupivacaine: effects of epinephrine on the plasma concentration profiles. Anesth Analg 1986; 65: 1281–4.
15 Kozody R, Palahniuk RJ, Wade JG, Cumming MO, Pucci WR. The effect of subarachnoid epineprine and phenylephrine on spinal cord blood flow. Can Anaesth Soc J 1984: 31; 503–8.[Medline]
16 Blumer J, Strong JM, Atkinson AJ Jr. The convulsant potency of lidocaine and its N-dealkylated metabolites. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1973; 186: 31–6.
17 Drayer DE, Lorenzo B, Werns S, Reidenberg MM. Plasma levels, protein binding, and elimination data of lidocaine and active metabolites in cardiac patients of various ages. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1983; 34: 14–22.[Medline]
18 Strong JM, Atkinson AJ Jr. Simultaneous measurement of plasma concentrations of lidocaine and its desethylated metabolite by mass fragmentography. Anal Chem 1972; 44: 2287–90.
19 Nation RL, Triggs EJ, Selig M. Lignocaine kinetics in cardiac patients and aged subjects. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1977; 4: 439–48.[Medline]
20 Savarese JJ, Covino BG. Basic and clinical pharmacology of local anesthetic drugs. In: Miller RD (Ed.). Anesthesia, 2nd ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone Inc., 1986: 985–1013.
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