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Peri-operative dreaming in paediatric patients who receive suxamethonium

E P O'Sullivan1, D Childs, G H Bush

  • 1Department of Anaesthetics, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool.

Anaesthesia
|February 1, 1988
PubMed

Insights

Peri-operative dreaming occurred in 16.7% of pediatric patients receiving suxamethonium. Pretreatment with tubocurarine significantly reduced dreaming incidence to 2.8%, suggesting a method to prevent this adverse event.

Area of Science:

  • Anesthesiology
  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Suxamethonium is commonly used for short procedures in children.
  • Peri-operative dreaming is a potential adverse event associated with certain anesthetic agents.
  • Understanding factors influencing dreaming is crucial for patient comfort.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the incidence of peri-operative dreaming in pediatric patients undergoing day case surgery.
  • To evaluate the effect of tubocurarine pretreatment on suxamethonium-induced dreaming.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective study involving 144 pediatric patients (aged 5-14 years) was conducted.
  • Patients received suxamethonium for day case surgery.
  • One group (72 patients) received tubocurarine pretreatment; the other did not.

Main Results:

  • No cases of awareness were reported.
  • The incidence of dreaming was 16.7% in the non-pretreated group.
  • The incidence of dreaming was significantly lower (2.8%) in the tubocurarine-pretreated group.

Conclusions:

  • Intermittent suxamethonium use is associated with a high incidence of dreaming in children.
  • Tubocurarine pretreatment effectively reduces the risk of peri-operative dreaming.
  • Muscle spindle discharge may contribute to cerebral arousal and dreaming during suxamethonium administration.

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