Inhibition of burn pain by intravenous lignocaine infusion.

Patients with burns often suffer severe pain, especially during dressing of wounds, but there are no established alternatives to potent opiate analgesics, with their various side-effects. Intravenous lignocaine infusion strikingly reduced self-assessed pain scores in 7 patients during the first 3 days after second-degree burns, without need for supplementary opiate analgesia.