Tachycardia and convulsions induced by accidental intravascular ropivacaine injection during sciatic block.

Ropivacaine, a recently introduced local anesthetic of the amide family (1), seems to show less toxicity than bupivacaine (2-4). Nevertheless, both neurologic and cardiovascular toxicities are possible. Six cases of ropivacaine-induced convulsions have previously been reported (5-10), of which three cases also showed cardiovascular toxicity. In three cases, total plasma concentrations were measured (Table 1).