Intravenous Lidocaine Modifies Brain Response to Acute Painful Stimulation

Three grayscale brain scans are horizontally aligned, illustrating changes in brain activity due to IV lidocaine in response to pain. Each scan highlights areas of interest with red and blue colors. The leftmost scan labels the Thalamus with a blue arrow and the Insula with an orange arrow. The middle scan points out the Anterior Cingulate with a yellow arrow. The rightmost scan identifies the S1 region with a blue arrow. The background is black, with bold white text at the top stating: 'IV lidocaine alters brain response to pain.

IV lidocaine has gained popularity for use in the treatment of perioperative pain, but how this drug – historically used as a local anesthetic – affects the subjective experience of pain is unknown. This publication demonstrates how brain processing of experimental noxious electrical stimulation is modulated by systemic lidocaine administration in volunteer subjects using task-based and connectivity analyses of functional MRI data.

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