Carticaine, a new local anesthetic of the amide type, differs from those previously known in that it contains a thiophene ring. The physico‐chemical properties of the compound, its pharmacology and its toxicology are reviewed from the literature. A controlled, double‐blind investigation in which carticaine was compared with lidocaine for the purpose of throwing light on the effect of the new local anesthetic in epidural analgesia is presented. Carticaine and lidocaine 2% with adrenaline 1:200 000 were used in the investigation. It was not possible to show any statistically significant difference as regards latency, spread, duration, or motor blockade obtained with the two substances. Marked differences in the type of side effects or their frequency were not noted. From this investigation and a scrutiny of the published clinical studies on the effect of carticaine, it is concluded that its clinical properties are comparable to those of lidoca