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Local Anesthetics

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Neural Mechanisms of Anesthesia

Part of the book series: Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience ((CCNE))

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Abstract

Local anesthetics (LAs) are drugs primarily utilized in clinic settings to induce local anesthesia. The term local anesthesia, unlike general anesthesia, is defined as loss of sensation within a confined region without loss of the patient’s consciousness. LAs are purposely used for relief of pain and induction of numbness during surgical procedures and are normally applied by local injection. Selected LAs such as lidocaine may also be used intravenously or taken orally as antiarrhythmics, anticonvulsants, and antiepileptics. The first report of the use of a LA by Carl Koller appeared in 1884 (1). For an operation on glaucoma, Koller applied the only naturally occurring LA, cocaine, topically on the cornea. Cocaine is isolated from the leaves of the coca shrub, Erythroxylon coca. His discovery of cocaine as a surface LA for relatively painless surgery was followed by the steady development of novel synthetic LAs spanning the last century. Along the course of this development came various new techniques of local/regional anesthesia.

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Authors
  1. Ging Kuo Wang
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of California at Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA

    Joseph F. Antognini MD

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California at Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA

    Earl Carstens PhD

  3. Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Douglas E. Raines MD

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Wang, G.K. (2003). Local Anesthetics. In: Antognini, J.F., Carstens, E., Raines, D.E. (eds) Neural Mechanisms of Anesthesia. Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-322-4_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-322-4_25

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-294-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-322-4

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