Administration of suxamethonium to patients with critical illness polyneuropathy may produce life-threatening hyper-kalaemia. A questionnaire to assess the awareness of this problem was sent to all UK intensive care units. A clinical scenario suggestive of critical illness polyneuropathy was accompanied by a list of possible drugs used to facilitate endotracheal intubation. Most respondents (68.7%) chose suxamethonium while 20.4% avoided any muscle relaxant. This result suggests a worrying lack of appreciation of the dangers of suxamethonium use in critical illness polyneuropathy.
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HundE.F., FogelW., KreigerD., DeGeorgiaM., HackeW.Critical illness polyneuropathy: Clinical findings and outcomes as a frequent cause of neuromuscular weaning failure. Crit Care Med1996; 24: 1328–1333.
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