Procaine, << PROH kayn, >> is a drug used to block pain sensation in a specific part of the body. Such drugs are called local anesthetics. Doctors use injections of procaine to produce regional nerve blocks and spinal anesthesia (see Anesthesia (Local anesthesia) ). Procaine is often called by the trade name Novocain.
Procaine is a white, crystalline powder. It is chemically similar to the local anesthetics benzocaine and cocaine. Unlike those anesthetics, however, procaine does not produce anesthesia when applied to the surface of the skin or mucous membranes.
A German chemist, Alferd Einhorn, first synthesized procaine in 1905. It soon replaced cocaine as the drug of choice for regional nerve block anesthesia, and for many years it served as the standard to which other local anesthetics were compared. The use of procaine has declined since the introduction of the local anesthetic lidocaine in the 1940’s.
