The metabolism and excretion of lignocaine in man

The urinary excretion of lignocaine and monoethylglycinexylidide (megx) has been studied in man. The finding that megx is a major metabolite of lignocaine in man is discussed in relation to studies in animals reported by other workers. An analogue computer model was constructed to simulate the metabolism and excretion of lignocaine. By varying the model parameters it was possible to obtain good agreement between the calculated and empirical excretion data for both lignocaine and its metabolite megx. Because of this good agreement, the computer was used to predict body levels of the compounds after a dose of lignocaine.