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Article: Muscle Relaxants-Suxamethonium and THA
- Article from:
- Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
- Article date:
- February 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Australian Society of Anaesthetists Feb 2006. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1984, Stanley Fcldman wrote this about suxamethonium: "In spite of its many disadvantages and some potential lethal dangers, it remains the only drug presently available that will produce a rapid, complete ncuromuscular block of about 5-10 minutes duration." Twenty years later, the same remains true and suxamethonium remains on the anaesthetic machine despite the myriad of new muscle relaxants available.
Whilst developing gallamine, Bovet and his co-workers studied a number of other substances with muscle relaxant properties. Among these was succinylcholinc iodide (suxamethonium) which was shown to be a short acting muscle relaxant. In 1951 Low and Tammelin synthesized succinylcholine ...