Local Anesthetics

Local anesthetics such as lidocaine and xylocaine can be injected into spastic muscles to produce short-term chemodenervation. This technique is typically only used to evaluate which muscles are contributing to a spastic deformity. Local anesthetics can also be injected to assess the likely benefit that the patient will receive from long-term chemodenervation with the more widely used substances—phenol, alcohol, or botulinum toxin (BTX).

	Botulinum Toxin