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Partial Curarization in the Postoperative Period
Author(s) -
Lennmarken C.,
Löfström J. B.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1984.tb02055.x
Subject(s) - medicine , neuromuscular transmission , anesthesia , neuromuscular monitoring , fentanyl , pancuronium bromide , nitrous oxide , neuromuscular blockade
Forty‐eight patients subjected to elective surgery were randomly selected for evaluation of neuromuscular transmission in the postoperative period. All patients were anaesthetized with thiopentone, nitrous oxide, fentanyl and pancuronium. On arrival in the postoperative ward, alertness, ability to sustain head lift and the train‐of‐four (TOF) ratio were estimated. Twenty‐five percent of the patients had a markedly impaired neuromuscular transmission which was not acceptable from a clinical standpoint. The given dose of pancuronium was not excessively high and a fairly long time had elapsed between reversal and TOF‐ratio measurement. There was a poor correlation between TOF ratio and ability to sustain head lift. The study indicates that residual curarization is a not uncommon fact which clinically is hard to assess. The only way to avoid residual curarization seems to be to monitor the neuromuscular transmission during anaesthesia.