Etidocaine: an evaluation in epidural analgesia for obstetrics.

ETmOCAINE is a local anaesthetic with high lipid solubility and strong proteinbinding characteristics. Prehminary reports claim that the agent has a very rapid onset and a long duration of action. 1 These characteristics should make the drug an attractive choice for epidural analgesia in obstetrics. Rapid onset is clearly desirable in a swiftly changing clinical situation, while long duration makes frequent reinjection unnecessary and reduces the total amount of drug required in protracted labours. In addition, strong protein-binding ensures low levels of free circulating drug and discourages placental transfer to the foetus. 2 The potency of etidocaine is estimated to be approximately twice that of lidocaine. 1 Observations of epidural dose-requirements in surgical patients, reported in the preceding paper, support this estimate quite closely. ~ The present report concerns the performance of etidocaine hydrochloride in epidural analgesia for pain relief in labour and vaginal delivery, and for Caesarean section in a total of 110 patients.