Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov:144:109947.
doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109947. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Nebulized Lidocaine in COVID-19, An Hypothesis

Ziad A Ali  1 , Rif S El-Mallakh  2
Affiliations

Nebulized Lidocaine in COVID-19, An Hypothesis

Ziad A Ali et al. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Coronavirus Diseases-2019 (COVID-19) has caused a large global outbreak and has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been proposed that COVID-19-related hyperinflammation and dysregulated immune response might play a critical role in developing a cytokine storm which usually progresses to a life-threatening acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome in infected individuals. Lidocaine, a local analgesic and anti-arrhythmic, is known for its anti-inflammatory actions and has been used to reduce cough and improve respiratory symptoms in severe asthmatic patients. It has a demonstrated safety profile. It is proposed that nebulized lidocaine might be beneficial in reducing cytokines, protecting patients' lungs and improving outcomes in COVID-19 patients when administered via inhalation as an adjunctive treatment for severe respiratory symptoms in patients fighting the novel Coronavirus. Additional investigation is warranted.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatories; COVID-19; Cytokine-storm; Lidocaine; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Cucinotta D., Vanelli M. Who declares Covid-19 a pandemic. Acta Bio-Medica: Atenei Parmensis. 2020;91(1):157–160. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morse S.S., Mazet J.A.K., Woolhouse M., Parrish C.R., Carroll D., Karesh W.B. Prediction and prevention of the next pandemic zoonosis. Lancet. 2012;380(9857):1956–1965. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McKibbin W.J., Fernando R. The global macroeconomic impacts of Covid-19: seven scenarios. Ssrn Electron J. 2020;2020
    1. Adhikari S.P., Meng S., Wu Y.J., Mao Y.P., Ye R.X., Wang Q.Z. Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the early outbreak period: a scoping review. Infect Dis Poverty. 2020;9(1):29. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cunningham A.C., Goh H.P., Koh D. Treatment of COVID-19: old tricks for new challenges. Crit Care. 2020;24:91. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms