Lipid Rescue is a term that has been coined to describe the use of intravenous lipid emulsion to treat severe local anaesthetic toxicity. This method of toxicity treatment was invented by Dr. Guy Weinberg in 1998, and had not been widely used until after the first published successful rescue in 2006. Since then more than a dozen case reports have been published. Recently, lipid therapy held the cover of the May 2008 issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, where the bulk of the issue had to do with this life saving technique.

Though most reports to date have used Intralipid, a commonly available intravenous lipid emulsion, other emulsions, such as Liposyn and Medialipid have also been shown to be effective.

There is ample supporting animal evidence^[1][2] and human case reports of successful use in this way.^[3][4] In the UK, efforts have been made to publicise this use more widely^[5] and lipid rescue has now been officially promoted as a treatment by the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.^[6] There is now one published case report of successful treatment of refractory cardiac arrest in bupropion and lamotrigine overdose using lipid emulsion.^[7]

The design of a 'home made' lipid rescue kit has been described^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Anesthesiology
• The American Society of Regional Anesthesia
• Regional Anesthesia and Pain & Medicine
• Lipid Rescue