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How drugs affect the body: What are the magical effects of local anesthetics?
Local Anesthetic (LA) is a drug that eliminates all sensation (including pain) in a specific body part without losing consciousness. This is different from general anesthetics, which render the entire body unconscious and induce a coma. These anesthetics are most often used to relieve pain during or after surgical procedures.
The main function of local anesthetics is to target specific nerve pathways and can even cause muscle paralysis, which is the loss of muscle function.
Classification of local anesthetics
Local anesthetics are divided into two categories: clinical local anesthetics (such as aminoamines and aminoesters) and synthetic local anesthetics. These synthetic drugs have less abuse potential than cocaine and, with some exceptions, do not cause hypertension and vasoconstriction. These drug names often end in "-caine" because of cocaine's early use as a local anesthetic.
Practical application of local anesthetics
Local anesthetics can be used to prevent and treat acute pain, manage chronic pain, and even as a supplement to general anesthesia. Specific technologies include:
- Topical anesthesia
- Infiltration anesthesia
- Mastoid block anesthesia
- Epidural anesthesia
- Spinal anesthesia, etc.
Acute pain management
While acute pain can often be managed with analgesics, catheter anesthesia may be a better choice because it provides better pain control and fewer side effects. For pain management, local anesthetics are usually given by repeated injection or continuous infusion through a catheter. Common uses include using local anesthetics to reduce patient discomfort before surgery or certain diagnostic procedures.
The Challenge of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a complex and serious condition that requires expert diagnosis and treatment. Local anesthetics may be used repeatedly or continuously to relieve chronic pain, often in combination with opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and anti-seizure medications.
Roles in Surgery
Almost every part of the body can be fed via catheter anesthesia, but only a few techniques are commonly used clinically. Sometimes local anesthetics are combined with general anesthesia or sedation to increase the patient's comfort.
Many anesthesiologists, surgeons, and patients believe that local anesthesia is safer than general anesthesia for major surgery.
Side effects and risks
Some local side effects that may occur with local anesthetics include swelling of the tongue, pharynx, and throat. These conditions may result from trauma during the injection process, inflammation, or allergic reactions. In addition to local reactions, there are systemic side effects, which may have potentially serious effects on the heart and central nervous system and may even be fatal.
Mechanism of action of local anesthesia
All local anesthetics are considered membrane-stabilizing drugs; they reversibly reduce the rates of depolarization and repolarization of excitable membranes, such as pain-sensing nerve endings. These drugs interfere with the transmission of nerve signals by inhibiting the influx of sodium ions into sodium channels in the nerve cell membrane. When the influx of sodium is interrupted, the generation of action potentials is affected.
Conclusion
The overall working principle of local anesthetics shows how drugs can precisely regulate sensory transmission in the human body, but do they really work?
