[Differences in patient sensitivity to currently used non-depolarized curaremimetics and factors which affect it]

A whole number of factors which affect the depth as well as duration of the block after administration of non-depolarizing myorelaxants, both positively and negatively. However, the effect in one patient can be predicted only with difficulty--as this paper showed--as neither the hydration level, age nor kalemia concentration had any effect on the depth of the neuromuscular block. Neither in patients, otherwise healthy, is it possible to predict the degree of the neuromuscular block after administering a standard dose of curaremimetic. The depth of the block can only be established by an objective method--mechano-myoscopic block monitoring. For this purpose, the authors use a Czechoslovak-made neuromuscular stimulator LSN 110. The determination of the actual block depth can help to control relaxation according to the needs of the surgeon or anaesthesiologist, and according to the individual patient's sensibility. A different sensibility response to myorelaxants was found in pipecuronium, vecuronium and even in atracurium. It corresponds approximately to gaussian curve of frequency.