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Transdermal Lidocaine for Perioperative Pain: a Systematic Review of the Literature

  • Other Pain (A Kaye and N Vadivelu, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the perioperative studies that have examined transdermal lidocaine (lidocaine patch) as an analgesic and put the evidence in context of the likely overall benefit of transdermal lidocaine in the perioperative period.

Recent Findings

Several randomized controlled trials have been published in the past 4 years that concluded transdermal lidocaine can reduce acute pain associated with laparoscopic trocar or cannula insertion.

Summary

Transdermal lidocaine may reduce short-term pain after surgery in selected surgery types and has a low risk of toxicity but its overall clinical utility in the perioperative setting is questionable. Transdermal lidocaine does not consistently reduce opioid consumption after surgery and has not been shown to improve patient function.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Funding

Departmental funds only.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA

    Jordan Smoker & Eric S. Schwenk

  2. Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Alexa Cohen

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Division of Pain Medicine, Stanford University Hospital, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Mohammad R. Rasouli

Authors
  1. Jordan Smoker
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  2. Alexa Cohen
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  3. Mohammad R. Rasouli
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  4. Eric S. Schwenk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric S. Schwenk.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Other Pain

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Smoker, J., Cohen, A., Rasouli, M.R. et al. Transdermal Lidocaine for Perioperative Pain: a Systematic Review of the Literature. Curr Pain Headache Rep 23, 89 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-019-0830-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-019-0830-9

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