The cause of the shock induced by local anesthetics remains to be unexplained. The measurements of serum electrolytes, blood sugar and serum catecholamine, the recording of electrocardiogram and blood gas analyses were performed in 46 patients during surgical intervention under local anesthesia. The results showed that the administration of epinephrine mixed with local anesthetics caused severe degree of hypopotasium. Especially in the case of nasal operation using nasal tampon immersed with epinephrine, the condition of hypopotasium stayed well over sixty minutes. Hypopotasium brought, about by the application of epinephrine is suspected to be one of the causes of the shock during operation, The authors emphasized that special attention to the level of serum electrolytes should be paid when local anesthetics are used with epinephrine.
