Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of the anilide local anaesthetics in neonates. 11 Etidocaine.

The urinary elimination of etidocaine and several of its metabolites was investigated in neonates whose mothers had received one or more doses of etidocaine during labour. The urine collection period ranged among the neonates from 21.4 to 47.0 h post-partum. The total amounts of etidocaine and its metabolites recovered in neonatal urine represented a mean of 0.12% of the maternal dose. Some differences in the pattern of urinary metabolites were observed between neonates and adults. Mean half-life of elimination of etidocaine calculated from sigma-minus plots of the neonatal urinary data was 6.42 h. This is greater than that previously reported following intravenous administration of etidocaine to adults (2.6 h). The slower rate of elimination in neonates is probably due to an increased neonatal volume of distribution since there is evidence to show that etidocaine is extensively metabolised by the neonate.