Lidocaine treatment following baboon endotoxin shock improves survival.

Baboons treated with lidocaine (2 mg/kg/hr) after shock from endotoxin were compared to untreated controls in an LD70 E coli endotoxin (4 mg/kg) model. Survival, systemic and pulmonary arterial pressures, cardiac output, white blood cell and platelet counts, blood gases and arterial and mixed venous PGE and PGF 2 alpha levels were determined. Baboons receiving lidocaine had a better (P less than 0.05) survival at 72 hours than the controls. Circulatory function was improved with lidocaine; however, white blood cell and platelet counts, blood gases, and the prostaglandin release were similar in both groups. The mechanism by which lidocaine improves survival in baboon endotoxin shock appears to be unrelated to its effects on white blood cells, platelets, or the prostaglandin release.