Local Anesthetic Toxicity

Effective regional block is not possible without the use of local anesthetics. Even though local anesthetics have been used for more than 115 years, details about balancing risks of their toxic effects with the benefits of their therapeutic effects remain poorly focused for many clinicians. In this chapter, the most frequent toxic effect of local anesthetics — local anesthetic systemic toxicity — will be covered, as will the less-frequent clinical situations of allergy to local anesthetics and myelotoxicity.