Lignocaine Lollywater

Lignocaine might become to the pharmaceutical industry what open source software is to Microsoft. Kaba et al in Anesthesiology, 2007 Jan looked at intravnous lignocaine's place in improving recovery after laparoscopic colectomy. The results appear impressive: IV lignocaine at 1.5 mg/kg bolus plus 2 mg/kg infusion intraoperatively followed by 1.3 mg/kg for 24 hours improved patient wellbeing and reduced hospital stay by a day. It's mode of action as a membrane stabiliser makes the analgesic effect plausible, and its cheap abundance makes its use enticing. I'll look more closely at this one, but we should watch out for the operator's use of local anaesthetics if the anaesthesia includes IV local anaesthetic.