Effect of local anesthetics with and without vasoconstrictor agent in patients with ventricular arrhythmias.

Background: The routine use of local anesthetics associated to vasoconstrictors for the dental treatment of patients with cardiopathies is still controversial, due to the risk of adverse cardiovascular effects.

Objective: To evaluate and compare the hemodynamic effects of the use of local anesthetics with a non-adrenergic vasoconstrictor in patients with ventricular arrhythmia, when compared to the use of anesthetics without vasoconstrictor.

Methods: A prospective randomized study evaluated 33 patients with positive serology for Chagas' disease and 32 patients with coronary artery disease that presented complex ventricular arrhythmia at Holter monitoring (>10 EV/h and NSVT), of which 21 were females, aged 54.73 + 7.94 years, submitted to routine dental treatment with pterygomandibular anesthesia. These patients were divided in two groups: group I received prilocaine 3% associated with felypressin 0.03 IU/ml and group II received lidocaine 2% without vasoconstrictor. The number and complexity of extrasystoles were analyzed, as well as the heart rate and systemic arterial pressure of the patients on the day before, one hour before, during the procedure and one hour after the dental procedure.

Results: No hemodynamic alterations or increase in the number and complexity of the ventricular arrhythmia related to the anesthetic used in the dental procedure were observed in either group.

Conclusion: The results suggest that prilocaine 3% associated to a felypressin 0.03 IU/ml can be safely used in patients with Chagas' disease or coronariopathy with complex ventricular arrhythmia.