Question 9 of 46

Yes, that response is correct.

The term "half-life" refers to the time required for a 50% reduction of the local anesthetic agent in the patient's blood level.

The clinical significance of this is that agents with the shortest half-lives are the least toxic (in normal, healthy adults). For example, the half-life of lidocaine in a normal, healthy adult is 1.8 hours. The half-life of procaine is 0.1 hour. Therefore, procaine would be less toxic.

On the other hand, the half-life of lidocaine in an adult with hepatic dysfunction is 4.9 hours. Compare this to the 1.8 hours for a healthy adult with no medical complications.