Because the parturient should be always considered as a patient with a full stomach and a possible difficult airway, succinylcholine is considered the muscle relaxant of choice for rapid sequence induction of general anesthesia. During pregnancy, the level of plasma cholinesterase which hydrolyses succinylcholine is moderately decreased, and hence hydrolysis of succinylcholine remains within th...

P ARAPHRASING that an old soldier never dies, he just fades away, this author has written of succinylcholine, “A drug capable of generating so many controversies, surviving so many crises, so uniquely short acting and rapid in onset, and inexpensive, will not just die.” Indeed, succinylcholine still invites attention. In this issue of ANESTHESIOLOGY, Turan et al. skillfully document that patien...

BACKGROUND Facilities with volatile anesthetic agents stock dantrolene for the treatment of malignant hyperthermia (MH). The availability of dantrolene at these facilities satisfies cost-utility norms even for sites with as few as 1 anesthetic per workday, based on the overall incidence of MH per anesthetic. We considered the stocking of dantrolene at facilities with succinylcholine alone (i.e....

BACKGROUND While the impact of volatile anaesthetics to induce malignant hyperthermia (MH) is abundantly clear, the role of succinylcholine still remains controversial. To evaluate the influence of succinylcholine on porcine MH events, the authors investigated the hemodynamic and metabolic responses in MH susceptible (MHS) and non-susceptible (MHN) swine following either succinylcholine or halo...

BACKGROUND Succinylcholine causes immediate and severe arterial hypotension in swine with the malignant hyperthermia phenotype. The underlying mechanisms are unknown. METHODS Malignant hyperthermia-susceptible (MHS; n = 10) and normal swine (n = 5) were anesthetized with thiopental. The following were monitored: electrocardiogram; arterial blood pressure; pulmonary artery, central venous, and...

Prolonged neuromuscular blockade from succinylcholine after neostigmine administration has been reported in patients with frank renal failure. We present a case of prolonged neuromuscular blockade from succinylcholine administration, given 2 hours after neostigmine reversal of neuromuscular blockade in a patient with chronic renal insufficiency. This case shows that patients with chronic renal ...

BACKGROUND Statins cause structural changes in myocytes and provoke myotoxicity, myopathy, and myalgias. Thus, patients taking statins may be especially susceptible to succinylcholine-induced muscle injury. The authors tested the hypothesis that succinylcholine increases plasma concentrations of myoglobin, potassium, and creatine kinase more in patients who take statins than in those who do not...

BACKGROUND Currently, the only approved muscle relaxant with a rapid onset and short duration of action is succinylcholine, a drug with some undesirable effects. Rapacuronium is an investigational nondepolarizing relaxant that also has a rapid onset and short duration and consequently should be compared with succinylcholine in its ability to facilitate rapid tracheal intubation. METHODS This ...

Succinylcholine is often used to facilitate neonatal and pediatric rapid sequence intubation in the emergency department, and most relevant literature recommends administering atropine prior to succinylcholine to reduce the risk of bradycardia. Given the potential complications associated with combining these medications, we searched the published literature for evidence supporting this practic...

abstract background: providing better surgical conditions with meticulous control of intraocular pressure (iop) is one of the most important factors that affect the success rate in ophthalmic surgery. clonidine is a selective central α2 agonist with analgesic, antianxiety and sedative effects which makes it a good choice in premedication recently. in this study, we compared the effects of oral ...