UNLABELLED Spinal muscle atrophy (SMA) is autosomal recessive and one of the most common inherited lethal diseases in childhood. The spectrum of symptoms of SMA is continuous and varies from neonatal death to progressive symmetrical muscle weakness first appearing in adulthood. The disease is produced by degeneration of spinal motor neurons and can be described in three or more categories: SMA ...

UNLABELLED Electromyographic (EMG) activity can contaminate electroencephalographic signals. Paralysis may therefore reduce the Bispectral Index (BIS) by alleviating artifact from muscles lying near the electrodes. Paralysis may also reduce signals from muscle stretch receptors that normally contribute to arousal. We therefore tested the hypothesis that nondepolarizing neuromuscular block reduc...

Myopathies that occur in the intensive care unit can be divided into preexisting myopathies or newly acquired myopathies that develop in the intensive care unit. Myotonic dystrophy is an example of a preexisting myopathy that may render patients susceptible to acute respiratory failure following surgical procedures and anaesthesia. A group of myopathies that develop within the intensive care un...

FORTY-FIVE years after Beecher and Todd 1 first described an increase in mortality associated with the use of D-tubocurarine, anesthesiologists are still learning how best to use neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) and their antagonists. Practices regarding antagonism of residual neuromuscular block vary based on the country of practice, type of anesthetic practice, and individual clinician p...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether use of intermediate acting neuromuscular blocking agents during general anesthesia increases the incidence of postoperative respiratory complications. DESIGN Prospective, propensity score matched cohort study. SETTING General teaching hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 2006-10. PARTICIPANTS 18,579 surgical patients who received intermediate ac...

©International Anesthesia Research Society. Unauthorized Use Prohibited. Almost thirty years ago, residual neuromuscular blockade was documented in a surprisingly high proportion of patients (30%), despite an almost systematic use of anticholinesterase agents.1 Since then, even with the development of shorter-acting neuromuscular blockers, pharmacological reversal, and more widespread use of ne...

The author provides a review of the mechanism of neuromuscular transnission, as well as the Nechanisn of action and differences between curare and succinylcholine. Effects of these two relaxants on various organs and tissues are discussed, as are their onset of action, duration, elimination, and clinical uses. In order to understand how skeletal muscle re-laxants act, the mechanism of neuromusc...

THE introduction of succinylcholine into clinical practice in 1951 was a seminal development in the history of anesthesia. Since that time, anesthesiologists have had access to a neuromuscular blocking drug (muscle relaxant) with a very rapid onset and a duration of action of approximately 10 min. The clinical utility of succinylcholine has been counterbalanced by its many undesirable effects, ...