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Neuromuscular Blocking Agents

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Abstract

Neuromuscular blockade is used in the operating room and in the intensive care unit. While in the operating room, almost every patient undergoing general anesthesia receives neuromuscular blocking agents, in the intensive care unit setting, curarization is reserved only to some patients. Some of the indications are mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic patients with pulmonary involvement, and prevention of persistent shivering during therapeutic hypothermia. Once decided to use curarization, it is mandatory to assure adequate sedation and analgesia to the patient and an optimal monitoring of the neuromuscular blockade. Curarization has to be discontinued as soon as possible, according to the clinical needs, trying to avoid short- and long-term complications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

    Elena Bignami & Francesco Saglietti

Authors
  1. Elena Bignami
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  2. Francesco Saglietti
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Correspondence to Elena Bignami .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Firenze, Italy

    Angelo Raffaele De Gaudio

  2. Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Firenze, Italy

    Stefano Romagnoli

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Bignami, E., Saglietti, F. (2018). Neuromuscular Blocking Agents. In: De Gaudio, A., Romagnoli, S. (eds) Critical Care Sedation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59312-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59312-8_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59311-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59312-8

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