Best evidence topic report. Lignocaine as a pretreatment to rapid sequence intubation in patients with status asthmaticus.

A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether pretreatment with intravenous lignocaine is of benefit in asthmatic patients undergoing rapid sequence intubation (RSI). Altogether 157 papers were found using the reported search, of which one presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date, and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated (table 3). It is concluded that there is no good evidence to support the use of lignocaine in this circumstance.