A Study of Intravenous Lidocaine as a Suppressant of Cough Reflex

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A comparison of lidocaine and meperidine as depressants of the cough reflex during general anesthesia revealed that the local anesthetic could completely suppress cough without severe respiratory depression, whereas the opiate caused respiratory arrest in a high percentage of patients before this reflex was depressed. In a study which added the irritant effects of diethyl ether to those of the endo-tracheal tube during induction, the administration of lidocaine resulted in significantly shorter and smoother inductions when compared to a saline placebo. These studies suggest that the local anesthetics are representatives of a qualitatively different type of central nervous depression which may offer a practical therapeutic approach to the control of the cough reflex and related reflexes of the upper respiratory tract during general anesthesia.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: