[Does the development of methemoglobin in the newborn infant affect the suitability of prilocaine for pudendal anesthesia? A clinical study in the peripartum phase].

Pudendal block is a well established method of achieving analgesia during the second stage of labor. Whenever a large amount of a local anesthetic has to be injected in well vascularized tissue, local anesthetic drugs with low systemic toxicity should be used, to minimize side effects. This means that prilocaine is the drug of choice. It is well known that the metabolites of prilocaine induce methemoglobinemia, and thus the question arises as to whether the methemoglobinemia affects the fetus. PATIENTS AND METHODS. Pudendal block was achieved with 2 x 10 ml prilocaine 1% in each of 17 mothers. Plasma concentrations of the local anesthetic in the second stage of labor were determined by gas chromatography in blood samples drawn from the mother and the newborn at the moment of childbirth. In addition, the time course of methemoglobinemia was determined by capillary blood samples from the neonate up to 6 h. To evaluate methemoglobinemia in the newborn, 125 microliters heparinized capillary blood was diluted with 200 microliters 0.9% sodium chloride; methemoglobin was detected by absorbance spectrometry. RESULTS. Before the pudendal block maternal methemoglobin concentrations were about 0.2% of the total hemoglobin concentration and within the physiological range. At the moment of delivery it was increased only to a small extent, without statistical significance. In the neonates mean methemoglobin concentrations were about 1% of total hemoglobin immediately after delivery, increasing up to 1.8% in the next 2 h and then decreasing continuously in all. At the moment of childbirth maternal mean prilocaine concentrations were 0.57 micrograms/ml on an average and 0.29 micrograms/ml in the newborn. DISCUSSION. With respect to systemic toxicity, prilocaine is the drug of choice in local anesthetic procedures when a long duration of anesthesia is not required; it guarantees short latency and adequate relief of pain. Methemoglobinemia induced by its metabolites is not a contraindication for its use in humans. Formerly prilocaine was judged to be contraindicated in pregnant women during delivery because of the small redox capacity of fetal erythrocytes. Our study, however, demonstrates that 200 mg prilocaine for pudendal block does not induce methemoglobinemia in newborns to any significant extent. One explanation for this may be the increased renal elimination of local anesthetics in newborns and the low fetomaternal ratio.