Studies of cerebral circulatory functions following intravenous administration of procaine hydrochloride.

Abstract

PROCAINE has found its primary usefulness in the past as a local anesthetic agent 4 ; indeed, it was thought to be highly dangerous if introduced into the general circulation. Since 1935, when Leriche and Fontaine 2 first deliberately gave the drug intravenously, reports have appeared in the literature with increasing frequency pointing out the beneficial effects of intravascular injection of procaine in a wide variety of conditions. Intravenous administration of procaine has been reported as useful in the treatment of such varied disease states as asthma, 3 arthritis, 4 carbon monoxide poisoning, 5 allergic conditions, 6 cardiac arrhythmias, 7 and a multitude of painful conditions. 8 The physiological mechanisms by which such benefits have been derived have been ill-defined. It was thought that study of the effect of intravenous administration of procaine on the cerebral circulatory functions might give valuable information concerning a possible vascular action of the drug. That