Supraclavicular brachial plexus block with etidocaine without vasoconstrictor. Preliminary report.

When used for supraclavicular brachial plexus blocks, etidocaine 1% gave a quick and sufficient onset. Its duration was longer than that of mepivacaine 2%, and equal to that of bupivacaine 0.5%. Onset times for etidocaine 0.5% and bupivacaine 0.5% were about equal, but the former seemed to give a more profound motor block. The duration of etidocaine 0.5% was shorter than that of bupivacaine 0.5%. The long-acting agents showed great variations in duration, and they all had longer regression times than mepivacaine. No serious pharmacological side-effects were observed during this study, and so far there are no reports on neurological sequelae.