GENERALIZED MYOTONIA FOLLOWING SUXAMETHONIUM

Dual block following tacrine and suxamethonium.

Tacrine and suxamethonium were used to produce muscle relaxation in 29 anaesthetized patients. Relaxation was monitored with a nerve stimulator. Post-tetanic facilitation was observed in 24 patients (83 per cent). In spite of this, operating conditions were satisfactory in 26 patients. Poor operating conditions were associated with the more severe degrees of phase II block as judged by an incre...

Analysis of suxamethonium sensitivity following termination of pregnancy.

The cholinesterase genotypes in the majority (25/35) of patients with suxamethonium sensitivity following termination of pregnancy are heterozygotes with an E1a gene. Twelve of these patients have the genotype E1uE1a. The reported duration of apnoea is minimal in the heterozygotes lacking the E1a gene (about 5-10 min) and maximal in the homozygotes E1aE1a (about 35 min). With few exceptions, th...

Goodbye suxamethonium!

No drugs in anaesthesia are more problematic than suxamethonium. Yet, no drugs have survived as suxamethonium does in spite of crisis after crisis, and attempt after attempt at its replacement. For decades, suxamethonium has taught us neuromuscular pharmacology and provided us with an encyclopaedia of side effects, while benefiting millions and millions of our anaesthetised patients. With the a...

Myotonia fluctuans.

Autosomal-dominantly inherited nondystrophic myotonic disorders are an interesting group of muscle diseases that provide considerable opportunity for future molecular genetic studies to identify the genes responsible for specific membrane functions. A family with such a myotonic disorder is described with features that are distinctly different from myotonia congenita and paramyotonia congenita....

Myotonia Acquisita