Bilateral forearm intravenous regional anesthesia with prilocaine for botulinum toxin treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis.

Abstract

Treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis with botulinum toxin (BTX) requires effective anesthesia, but previous methods have not provided enough pain relief or have resulted in a prolonged impaired hand function. This is a study of bilateral forearm intravenous regional anesthesia using prilocaine for BTX treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. In all, 166 patients (100 female and 66 male) were treated bilaterally with intracutaneous BTX type A injections using intravenous regional anesthesia with prilocaine (5 mg/mL). In a subgroup of patients, forearm nerves were studied with neurophysiologic methods and blood concentrations of prilocaine were measured. Pain evaluation with a visual analog scale was accompanied with a questionnaire about the treatment. In all, 95% of the patients answering the questionnaire (response rate 89%) were satisfied with the anesthetic effect. No serious adverse events occurred. There was a fast recovery of motor function (in median 6 minutes) and sensory function (in median 20 minutes). No subclinical signs of sensory nerve damage were found. Recall and reporting bias are potential sources of limitations in this study. Bilateral forearm intravenous regional anesthesia provides an effective and well-tolerated anesthesia during BTX treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis.