Question
A patient is brought to ED by ambulance with many wounds that look like knife wounds.
On examination, the wounds appear to be slashes. None of the slashes is deep, and none has damaged any underlying structures. You have to suture the wounds. Overall, there are 12 wounds totalling approximately 1m in length.
The patient weighs about 60Kg.
Which would be the best choice and dose of anaesthetic agent?
Table of local anaesthetic doses:
| Recommended max dose | Max dose with adrenaline | Onset | Duration | |
| Lidocaine | 4.5mg/kg | 7mg/kg | 5 minutes | 300 minutes1 |
| Bupivacaine | 2mg/kg | 2mg/kg | 10 minutes | 700 minutes2 |
1Duration of action is for 1% Lidocaine with 1:100,000 adrenaline, in digital blocks.
2Duration of action is for 0.5% plain Bupivacaine, in digital blocks.