Perioperative Pain Management: Lidocaine

The opioid epidemicOpioid epidemic has fostered a proliferation of strategies aimed at limiting opioidOpioids-centric analgesicAnalgesics paradigms in the perioperativePerioperative phase of care. Effective pain managementPain management is a critical component of postoperative care as it affects a myriad of recovery variables and improves patient satisfaction. The use of opioidOpioids analgesicsAnalgesics has been found to produce untoward side effects and may lead to delayed post-operative recovery. LidocaineLidocaine is an amide local anestheticLocal anesthetics that has been widely used for local and regional anesthesiaRegional anesthesia while simultaneously possessing antiarrhythmic, anti-nociceptive and anti-bacterial properties. In the management of chronic painChronic pain, the intravenous administration of lidocaineLidocaine has been shown to reduce central pain sensitization. {Chu, 2020 #1} The applicability of intravenous lidocaine for early post-operative pain control has been well studied following laparoscopic and open abdominal surgeries. Intravenous lidocaine has also been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of a variety of acute and chronic painChronic pain clinical scenarios.