ABSTRACT
Much of the information concerning local anesthetic toxicity has been derived from adult studies. It would be foolish to dismiss this knowledge because the manifestations of toxicity are essentially the same in children as in adults. A simple way to classify adverse local anesthetic drug effects is into four categories: local, regional, focal, and systemic.
Local effects result from the direct action of the drug on the nerve.
Regional effects are secondary to the nerve conduction blockade.
Focal effects result from strange routes of transport of local anesthetic drugs to the brain (i.e., intra-arterial, intraneural, etc.).
Systemic effects follow absorption or i.v. injections of local anesthetic into the circulation.
