Prolonged nerve blockade in a patient treated with lithium

Abstract

We report a case of a patient, chronically treated with oral lithium, who presented with an extremely prolonged (42-hour) duration of sensory and motor paralysis following an uneventful infraclavicular block for hand surgery that was performed under ultrasound guidance using bupivacaine and lidocaine. Due to its direct effect on nerve conduction of action potential, we propose that lithium may have had a role in the unusually prolonged duration of a peripheral nerve block. © 2012 Lehavi et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.