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Muscle Relaxants in Infants and Children

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Pediatric and Obstetrical Anesthesia

Part of the book series: Developments in Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesiology ((DCCA,volume 30))

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Abstract

Neuromuscular blocking agents (relaxants) are commonly used in infants and children to facilitate intubation, to provide surgical relaxation, and to control ventilation intraoperatively and perhaps postoperatively. Throughout infancy, the neuromuscular junction matures physically and biochemically, the contractile properties of skeletal muscle change, body fluid volumes decrease, the amount of muscle in proportion to body weight increases, the acetylcholine receptor changes configuration, and the neuromuscular junction is variably sensitive to neuromuscular-blocking drugs. The purposes of this lecture are to review the factors that influence the differences in the ED95 of relaxants in infants and children, and to review the factors that influence the choice of a specific relaxant for various procedures. In large part, the lecture will deal with ultra-short, short, and intermediate duration relaxants.

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Authors
  1. D. R. Cook
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    T. H. Stanley  & P. G. Schafer  & 

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Cook, D.R. (1995). Muscle Relaxants in Infants and Children. In: Stanley, T.H., Schafer, P.G. (eds) Pediatric and Obstetrical Anesthesia. Developments in Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesiology, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0319-0_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0319-0_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4141-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0319-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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