TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Muscle Relaxants A1 - Yeung, Albert C. A2 - Ellinas, Herodotos A2 - Matthes, Kai A2 - Alrayashi, Walid A2 - Bilge, Aykut Y1 - 2021 N1 - T2 - Clinical Pediatric Anesthesiology AB - FOCUS POINTSNeuromuscular blocking drugs (NMBDs) are quaternary ammonium compounds that have structural similarities to acetylcholine (Ach).The potency of a NMBD is a measure of the dose required to produce the corresponding twitch suppression.The onset time is the time from administration to maximum blockade.The duration of action is the time to return to 25% of baseline single twitch height (T25).Succinylcholine is the only clinically available depolarizing NMBD and is hydrolyzed by plasma cholinesterase (also referred to as butyrylcholinesterase or pseudocholinesterase).The efficacy of a patient’s plasma cholinesterase can be expressed by the dibucaine number.Contraindications to succinylcholine administration include personal or family history of malignant hyperthermia, known or suspected myopathy, hyperkalemia, and medical conditions that result in increased extrajunctional acetylcholine receptors such as burns, trauma, and immobility.The routine use of succinylcholine in infants and children should be avoided due to the risk of hyperkalemic cardiac arrest in patients with undiagnosed skeletal muscle myopathy.There are two chemical classes of clinically available nondepolarizing NMBDs: the aminosteroid compounds (pancuronium, vecuronium, rocuronium) and the benzylisoquinolinium compounds (atracurium, cisatracurium, mivacurium).There are two classes of agents for reversal of neuromuscular blockade: anticholinesterases and cyclodextrins. SN - PB - McGraw Hill CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/19 UR - accessanesthesiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1176457135 ER -