Intravenous Use of Procaine Hydrochloride in Control of Pruritus

Abstract

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to report and evaluate our experience with the intravenous use of procaine hydrochloride ( p -aminobenzol-diethylaminoethanol hydrochloride) as a therapeutic measure to combat pruritus and facilitate healing in a group of common pruritic dermatoses. For a long time procaine hydrochloride had been used only as a local anesthetic, although August Bier, 1 in 1908, introduced a method for its intravenous use. Intravenous procaine therapy, like many other medical procedures, was introduced with a wave of enthusiasm, only to be followed by a wave of skepticism and censure which ultimately condemned its use as a dangerous procedure, temporarily discarding it as a method of therapy. After World War II, its general anesthetic properties became better known, which caused a renewed interest in its use. There soon followed published reports of its use in the treatment of pruritus of jaundice, contact dermatitis, serum sickness, exfoliative dermatitis, pruritus ani, drug eruptions, and other dermatologic manifestations. 2