Levobupivacaine for regional blockades in orthopedics and traumatology in children: recent evidence and future directions

Levobupivacaine is an amide anesthetic, levorotatory isomer of bupivacaine. This literature review aimed to present the possibilities of levobupivacaine in the implementation of blockades for anesthesia in traumatology and orthopedics in children. Levobupivacaine is widely used for analgesia for orthopedic interventions in adults and has become an alternative to the less safe bupivacaine. The actions of levobupivacaine, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine in the implementation of neuroaxial and peripheral blockades, and the infiltration of postoperative wounds in children were compared in the present study. Levobupivacaine has been confirmed to be safe compared with bupivacaine in pediatric patients. Studies in children of different ages comparing levobupivacaine and ropivacaine, used for anesthesia in traumatology and orthopedics, indicate the same or greater analgesic potential of levobupivacaine, with a similar level of safety. Compared with ropivacaine, levobupivacaine provides comparable pain relief at lower concentrations. The presented clinical data of levobupivacaine use in children allow the expansion of the indications for anesthesia in orthopedics and traumatology. Clinical research should be continued to compare the effectiveness of different concentrations of levobupivacaine and ropivacaine in larger groups of pediatric patients. Relevant papers were obtained by searching PubMed and Scopus databases.