Liposome Bupivacaine for Postoperative Analgesia: One Formulation Approved for Clinical Use Within the United States

Postoperative analgesia is often provided using a local anesthetic administered directly to the surgical site, as a peripheral nerve block, or within the epidural space. Unfortunately, local anesthetics have a limited duration of action, and even with the addition of adjuvants, typically do not provide more than 24 h of analgesia. One formulation of liposome bupivacaine recently gained approval for clinical use within the United States. With a duration of action substantially longer than previously available local anesthetics, it has the potential not only to extend the duration of analgesia provided by single-injection administration, but also to replace continuous perineural local anesthetic infusion. Although promising, confirmatory data are currently scarce demonstrating superiority to non-liposomal long-acting local anesthetics. Liposome bupivacaine’s appropriate usefulness is therefore dependent upon the results of future research.