Liposomal bupivacaine: a literature review of applications in oral and maxillofacial surgery

Abstract

Local anesthesia plays a vital role in virtually all surgical procedures, especially procedures involving the head and neck. The development of local anesthesia was a pivotal moment in surgical history that has had a profound impact on perioperative patient comfort. In 1884, Koller used a cocaine solution to achieve anesthesia of the globe for ocular surgery, which subsequently sparked the interest of cocaine as a local anesthetic (1). Halsted and Hall later went on to report the first successful nerve blocks with a local anesthetic (2). The early findings of Halsted and Hall revolutionized the field of dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) as the first nerve blocks were of the infraorbital and inferior alveolar nerve for a dental procedure. Since the introduction of local anesthesia, many different formulations have been used for various OMS procedures. In 1957, the local anesthetic bupivacaine was introduced. Bupivacaine is an amide local anesthetic with an onset of action of 2 to 10 minutes following local infiltration and an anesthesia time of up to 7 hours in some patients (3). Compared to other amides such as lidocaine, bupivacaine provides a significantly longer duration of Review Article