Benzylpenicillin Procaine is a combination of an injectable antibiotic and local anesthetic. Indications for use are quite varied but include the treatment of all stages of syphilis, mild to moderate pneumococcal pneumonia, and as an adjunctive in the treatment of diphtheria along with intramuscular (IM) antitoxin.
Indications for use are quite varied but include the treatment of all stages of syphilis, mild to moderate pneumococcal pneumonia, and as an adjunctive in the treatment of diphtheria along with intramuscular (IM) antitoxin. Additional indications published include but are not limited to the treatment of infections with Listeria monocytogenes and various Treponema and Actinomyces species, as well as conditions including scarlet fever, rat-bite fever, and tonsillitis.
Many of the most deleterious adverse effects of procaine penicillin occur in the setting of inadvertent intravascular administration. These include cardiac conduction disturbance and neurologic sequelae, including tonic-clonic seizure as well as permanent neurovascular damage in the form of conditions such as transverse myelitis and gangrene requiring digital and even proximal extremity amputation.
