Abstract

One hundred patients underwent intravenous regional anesthesia for manipulation of Colles' fracture using prilocaine 0.5% or bupivacaine 0.125% administered in a double-blind manner. Prilocaine produced significantly better analgesia, but was associated with significantly more pain on injection. Minor side effects after tourniquet release were rare. It is apparent that the results of studies on the relative potencies of these agents in animals or human volunteers do not apply to intravenous regional anesthesia when used clinically and that there can be no case for using lower concentrations of bupivacaine to increase its safety.