[Mepivacaine in brachial plexus anesthesia in surgical interventions of long duration].

To evaluate the use of mepivacaine-HCl for continuous axillary brachial plexus block for surgery lasting several hours a prospective study was performed. Mepivacaine-HCl 400 mg was injected every two hours. Over a period of eight to twenty hours there was in all cases adequate analgesia and muscle relaxation for microsurgical repair of limbs. Mean serum levels of mepivacaine-HCl did not exceed the concentration of 5-6 micrograms/ml. There were no side effects caused by the local anaesthetic agent.