Abstract
The injection of local anesthetics into a vein in an exsanguinated extremity was first described by August Bier in 1908. Originally, anesthesia was obtained by the intravenous injection of procaine in a previously exsanguinated vascular space, isolated from the rest of the circulation by two Esmarch bandages used as tourniquet. In 1963 Holmes reintroduced the Bier block with the novel use of lidocaine. It caused anesthesia and a motor block.
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Jankovic, D. (2015). Intravenous Regional Anesthesia (IVRA). In: Regional Nerve Blocks in Anesthesia and Pain Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05131-4_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05131-4_33
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