Cumulative Exposure and Cardiovascular Risk: Predictors of Serious Adverse Outcomes Following Long-Term Intravenous Lidocaine Therapy for Chronic Pain

Clicks: 1
ID: 314606
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #42 of 52 articles by views in regional anesthesia and pain medicine

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Background Intravenous (IV) lidocaine has emerged as a non-opioid alternative for chronic pain management. However, the safety profile of repeated, long-term administration, particularly regarding cumulative exposure and cardiovascular comorbidities, remains poorly defined. Objective To identify risk factors for serious adverse outcomes (SAOs) following IV lidocaine infusion in chronic pain patients. Methods A retrospective cohort study examined 1,093 patients treated with IV lidocaine at a hospital-based pain clinic in Israel (2014–2022), totaling 15,820 infusions. SAOs were defined as emergency department visits within 14 days of infusion. Multivariable logistic regression and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) were used to assess predictors, including cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular accident (CVA) history, diabetes mellitus, and cumulative infusion count, to distinguish between true dose-frequency effects and artifacts of cumulative exposure time. A secondary analysis retained only events plausibly attributable to lidocaine based on its pharmacological profile. Results Fifty-five patients (5.0%) experienced SAOs. Cumulative exposure exceeding 50 infusions was the strongest predictor of adverse outcomes (OR = 12.58, p < 0.001). A GEE model accounting for repeated measures revealed that the risk per individual infusion remained stable and did not increase with the infusion sequence number (OR = 1.00, p = 0.854). CVA history was initially significant but lost significance in the secondary analysis when restricted to plausibly lidocaine-related events (n = 30), suggesting the association reflected disease progression rather than treatment effect. Conversely, pre-existing cardiovascular disease emerged as a significant predictor only in the refined analysis (OR = 3.88, p = 0.008), consistent with lidocaine’s known cardiac electrophysiological effects. Conclusions IV lidocaine demonstrates a favorable safety profile with low SAO incidence. While the statistical probability of an event increases with total exposure time, the per-infusion risk remains stable across the treatment course suggesting an absence of cumulative physiological toxicity. Pre-existing cardiovascular disease, specifically ischemic heart disease and arrhythmias, remains a primary risk factor. These findings support the use of enhanced cardiac monitoring for patients with these specific cardiovascular comorbidities and periodic risk-benefit reassessments for high-utilization patients.
Reference Key
openalex_W7161944725 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Natalie Shalit, Roy Shalit, Michelle Levitan, Hadas Afgin, Ofir Morag, Itay Goor‐Aryeh
Journal regional anesthesia and pain medicine
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/pm/pnag066
URL
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.