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. 2017 Jan;8(1):697.
doi: 10.4172/2155-6148.1000697. Epub 2017 Jan 11.

Lidocaine Infusion: A Promising Therapeutic Approach for Chronic Pain

Enas Kandil  1 , Emily Melikman  1 , Bryon Adinoff  2
Affiliations

Lidocaine Infusion: A Promising Therapeutic Approach for Chronic Pain

Enas Kandil et al. J Anesth Clin Res. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Opioid abuse is a national epidemic in the United States, where it is estimated that a prescription drug overdose death occurs every 19 minutes. While opioids are highly effective in acute and subacute pain control, their use for treatment of chronic pain is controversial. Chronic opioids use is associated with tolerance, dependency, hyperalgesia. Although there are new strategies and practice guidelines to reduce opioid dependence and opioid prescription drug overdose, there has been little focus on development of opioid-sparing therapeutic approaches. Lidocaine infusion has been shown to be successful in controlling pain where other agents have failed. The opioid sparing properties of lidocaine infusion added to its analgesic and antihyperalgesic properties make lidocaine infusion a viable option for pain control in opioid dependent patients. In this review, we provide an overview of the opioid abuse epidemic, and we outline current evidence supporting the potential use of lidocaine infusion as an adjuvant therapeutic approach for management of chronic pain.

Keywords: Choice of hospital; Hip replacement; Knee replacement; Patient expectations; Surgery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest The authors do not have any conflicts of interest

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Role of opioids in development of central sensitization.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Role of lidocaine in prevention of central sensitization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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