Lidocaine protein binding in preeclampsia.

The effect of preeclampsia on the binding of lidocaine to serum proteins was studied in 25 term parturients with severe preeclampsia and in 21 normal parturients serving as controls. There were no statistically significant differences in mean lidocaine free fraction, binding ratio, or serum AAG levels in the control vs preeclamptic patients, respectively. Binding ratio was strongly correlated with AAG concentration for the control (r = 0.91) and preeclamptic (r = 0.85) patients. A statistically significant difference was observed in the slopes of the lines relating binding ratio to AAG. Preeclampsia had little affect on serum AAG concentrations and lidocaine binding ratio. Preeclampsia may alter the interaction of lidocaine with binding sites on AAG without a significant change in lidocaine free fraction.