The sympathetic response to rigid bronchoscopy, laryngoscopy and esophagoscopy, performed under general anesthesia with isoflurane, was examined in patients who either received 5 ml of 2 % lidocaine (n = 7) or 5 ml of saline (n = 7), sprayed on larynx and upper trachea under direct laryngoscopy, 2 min before the introduction of the rigid bronchoscope. Blood pressure, heart rate and plasma catecholamine and lidocaine levels were measured at specific time points of the study. Topical lidocaine led to a rapid and prolonged increase in plasma lidocaine levels. Patients treated with lidocaine showed a small but significant decrease in plasma epinephrine levels from baseline following endotracheal intubation and extubation, as compared to the saline control group. Blood pressure and heart rate response during rigid panendoscopy, isoflurane requirements and time interval from termination of panendoscopy to extubation were not different between the two groups. However, in contrast to the control group, patients who had received lidocaine had no significant rise in blood pressure and heart rate from baseline following the introduction of the rigid bronchoscope. The benefit of this moderate hemodynamic stabilizing effect of lidocaine has to be weighed against the risk of decreased protective airway reflexes due to topical laryngeal lidocaine during recovery from anesthesia.