Lidocaine clinical pharmacokinetics

A review of the clinical pharmacokinetics of lidocaine is presented. Available evidence suggests that antiarrhythmic effects are reasonably well correlated wih plasma concentration. Adverse effects also covary with plasma concentration, but available evidence suggests that the correlation is not strong. A simple, multiple-bolus loading schedule appears to be superior to techniques using loading infusions; most of the multiple-bolus protocols mandate that only enough drug be given to attain the desired pharmacologic effect. In contrast, the loading infusion protocols almost invariably require the administration of a fixed dose, regardless of what fraction of the dose has been given when arrhythmia suppression is achieved. Since multiple-bolus and constant-rate infusion techniques have been shown to reduce substantially the incidence of primary ventricular fibrillation, they should be considered appropriate prophylactic and treatment regimens for acute myocardial infarction patients.