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The use of neuromuscular blocking agents in the ICU: where are we now?

Steven B Greenberg1, Jeffery Vender

  • 1University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. sbgreenb@gmail.com

Critical Care Medicine
|April 18, 2013
PubMed

Intensivists use neuromuscular blocking agents for a variety of clinical conditions, including for emergency intubation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, status asthmaticus, elevated intracranial pressure, elevated intra-abdominal pressure, and therapeutic hypothermia after ventricular fibrillation-associated cardiac arrest. The continued creation and use of evidence-based guidelines and protocols could ensure that neuromuscular blocking agents are used and monitored appropriately. A collaborative multidisciplinary approach coupled with constant review of the pharmacology, dosing, drug interactions, and monitoring techniques may reduce the adverse events associated with the use of neuromuscular blocking agents.

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