Effect of Lidocaine and Epinephrine on Staphylococcus aureus in a Guinea Pig Model of Surgical Wound Infection

Abstract

Postoperative wound infection, most often with, is of ubiquitous concern in surgical practice, occurring in an average of 1.5 to 5 percent of all procedures. The antimicrobial properties of local anesthetics have been documented over the past 25 years by in vitro studies. This study evaluates the effects of lidocaine preparations on in an in vivo setting. In a wound infection model using live albino guinea pigs, inoculum was introduced for the reproducible bacterial colonization of clean surgical wounds. One of two sites on the dorsum of each animal was infiltrated with a commercial lidocaine preparation (with and without epinephrine) prior to inoculation with (10 cfu/ml). The other site, inoculated with without preinfiltration with lidocaine, served as the control. Cultures from the sites treated with lidocaine were then compared with cultures from the control sites. All control sites had a consistent presence >or=10 cfu/ml, the threshold for bacterial inhibition of wound healing. Infiltration of the wound with 2 ml of 2% lidocaine prior to inoculation was associated with an average decrease in bacterial count of >70 percent ( n= 19). On the other hand, the addition of epinephrine (1:100,000) to lidocaine was associated with a 20-fold in bacterial counts compared with control values ( n= 10). This is the first study to demonstrate inhibition of by a local anesthetic agent in an in vivo model of a surgical wound. This information suggests a possible role for local anesthetics in prophylaxis against surgical wound infection.

Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infection after Major Breast Operation

“…Although anesthetic agents used for local infiltration have been shown to have antibacterial properties both in vitro and in vivo (33,34), the protective effect observed in this study was most likely due to the type of surgery. Local anesthetic agents were used more often in breast reduction surgery than in other types of breast surgery.…”

Neuraxial Regional Anaesthesia in Patients with Active Infection and Sepsis: A Clinical Narrative Review

“…False negative and suboptimal microbiological culture results in microbiological sampling have been described when previous infiltration with LA was performed, as well as a 70% decrease in the number of colonies of bacteria, suggesting a role of LA in the prophylaxis of infection of infiltrated surgical wounds (50).…”

Antimicrobial Activity of Artemisia absinthium Against Surgical Wounds Infected by Staphylococcus aureus in a Rat Model

“…The 1 9 10 4 inoculum was used as in previous studies by Stratford et al [10] and Barker et al [11] in animal wound infection models.…”

“…Preparation of tissues and antimicrobial screening was carried out as described by Stratford et al [10]. Tissue specimens were weighed and homogenized in broth.…”