title: Seizure Elicitation Blocked by Pretreatment with Lidocaine.
abstract: A patient is reported in whom pretreatment with intravenous lidocaine resulted in failure to elicit a seizure even at stimulus intensity markedly greater than that used successfully at prior and subsequent treatments. Together with one other report, this experience suggests that lidocaine may prevent a seizure by raising the seizure threshold. An alternative explanation is proposed for the classic findings of Ottosson that lidocaine-modified seizures are reduced in therapeutic efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and Department of Biological Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: D. P.
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Devanand
authors.forename: Harold A.
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Sackeim