Local Anaesthesia and Analgesia Flashcards
What is local analgesia?
Use of a drug to produce temporary loss of all sensation in a limited part of the body
What is local anaesthesia?
Any technique to render part of the body insensitive to pain without affecting consciousness
Which groups of drugs can be used to achieve local analgesia?
Opioids, local anaesthetics and alpha-2 agonists
What are the characteristics of lidocaine?
Amide type local anaesthetic with good potency
Short 10-15 min onset of action with up to 2 hrs DOA
Causes vasodilation so often formulated with adrenaline, may cause SC and skin swelling in horses so rarely used
What are the characteristics of procaine?
Ester with poor potency
Long onset of action 15-20min with 45-60min DOA
Only local anaesthetic licensed for food producing animals in EU
What are the characteristics of mepicacaine?
Amide with good potency
Short onset of 10 mins and long DOA of 6-8 hrs
Commonly used for equine nerve blocks
What are the characteristics of bupivacaine?
Amide with strong potency
Long onset of 30-40 mins and long DOA of 6-8 hours
High incidence of cardiotoxicity
What are the characteristics of ropivacaine?
Similar to bupivacaine but less cardiotoxic and may be slightly less potent
What are the characteristics of tetracaine and proparacaine?
Both lipid soluble used topically in the eye with short onset and duration
What are the characteristics of prilocaine?
Lipid soluble for absorption across intact skin
Relatively high potential to cause methaemaglobinaemia
Formulated with lidocaine in EMLA cream
How is EMLA cream used?
Applied to intact skin and left for 30 minutes to take effect, apply a light bandage over the ointment
Useful for IV or arterial catheterisation of nervous animals
What is the dose for lidocaine?
5mg/kg with toxic dose at 10-20mg/kg
What is the dose used for bupivacaine?
2mg/kg with toxic dose of 3.5-4.5mg/kg
What is the dose used for ropivacaine?
1.5-3mg/kg with toxic dose of 5mg/kg
What is the biochemical structure of local anaesthetics?
Weak bases consisting of a lipophilic ring, a link and a hydrophilic amine
Solubilised for injection as strong conjugate acidic hydrochloride salts
What is the classification of amines or esters based on?
The link present between the lipophilic ring an hydrophilic amine
How do local anaesthetics work?
Block the sodium channels from the inner surface of the axonal membrane preventing propagation of axonal action potentials
What is the speed of onset of a local anaesthetic related to?
Dose and proportion of drug in the non-ionised lipid soluble form which is determined by the pKa and ambient pH