A cardiac arrest following the administration of succinylcholine
Abstract:
A twenty-three year old woman, admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with a diagnosis of menin- gitis and associated lower limb ischemia suffered a car- diac arrest, due to extreme hyperkalemia, following the administration of succinylcholine in order to replace an endo-tracheal tube. After prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) lasting 45 minutes, during which 8 mg of epinephrine was administered, cardiac output was restored. Four weeks later the patient left intensive care, having made a full recovery with no neurological deficit. The following case highlights the risks of succinylcholine in the septic patient and that prolonged resuscitation can have a succesfiil outcome.
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