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[Changes in kaliemia following rapid sequence induction with succinylcholine in critically ill patients]
F Mégret1, V Perrier, C Fleureau
1Service d'anesthésie-réanimation II, hôpital du Haut-Lévêque, CHU de Bordeaux, avenue Magellan, 3300 Bordeaux, France.
Objective:
Evaluate the changes in potassium following rapid sequence induction with succinylcholine in critically ill-patients and determine whether hospital length of stay could influence the succinylcholine-induced hyperkaliemia.
Study Design:
Prospective and observational study.
Patients And Methods:
After approval by our local ethical committee, we prospectively included 36 patients admitted from more than 24hours in ICU and who required succinylcholine for rapid tracheal intubation (1mg/kg). Serum potassium was measured before, 5 and 30min after succinylcholine. The incidence of life-threatening hyperkaliemia (≥6.5mmol/L) was noted.
Results:
We could observe significant and transient increase in serum potassium (median increase of 0.45 [0.20-0.80] mmol/L at five minutes). A significant relationship was observed between the ICU length of stay and arterial potassium increase (r=0.37, P<0.05). From the ROC curve, a threshold of 12 days had an 86% sensitivity and 69% specificity in discriminating patients in whom the potassium increase was more than 1.5mmol/L.
Conclusion:
Induction with succinylcholine is followed by significant but transient hyperkaliema. The ICU length of stay before giving succinylcholine could influence significantly the amplitude of potassium increase.
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