Chloroprocaine for Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia

Key Messages

• Compared to alternative local anesthetic drugs, chloroprocaine may result in a shorter or equal onset of sensory and motor blocks and recovery from sensory and motor blocks.
• Compared to alternative local anesthetic drugs, chloroprocaine has a shorter time to unaided ambulation, time to independent urination, and time to discharge.
• Chloroprocaine may have better or equal clinical effectiveness than alternative drugs for spinal or epidural local anesthesia.
• Compared to alternative local anesthetic drugs, chloroprocaine may cause higher rates of adverse events. However, due to inconsistency in evidence, it was difficult to draw any firm conclusions in this regard, suggesting further investigation for decision-making.
• We did not find any evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of chloroprocaine compared to other local anesthetic drugs and evidence-based guidelines for using chloroprocaine for patients requiring spinal or epidural anesthesia that met the inclusion criteria for the present review.