CLINICAL EXPERIENCE AND PLASMA LAUDANOSINE CONCENTRATIONS DURING THE INFUSION OF ATRACURIUM IN THE INTENSIVE THERAPY UNIT
Open Access
- 1 February 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Elsevier in British Journal of Anaesthesia
- Vol. 59 (2) , 211-217
- https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/59.2.211
Abstract
Twenty patients in the intensive care unit received an infusion of atracurium to permit mechanical ventilation. The duration of infusion ranged from 38 to 219 h and the average rate of infusion during the study was 0.76 mg kg−1 h−1. In 14 patients an increase in atracurium requirement occurred within the first 72 h of the infusion. Recovery from neuromuscular blockade after a prolonged infusion was sufficiently rapid to avoid pharmacologically induced reversal. In six patients maximum plasma concentrations of laudanosine were 1.9–5 μg ml−1 and there was no evidence of cerebral excitation.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: