Severe tetanus: its complications and management

When phenothiazines and barbiturates fail to control the spasms of tetanus, total paralysis induced by muscle relaxants may be the only way of keeping the patient alive. The hazards of this technique are illustrated in this report of a patient with severe tetanus who was totally paralyzed for 26 days. Cardiac arrest, ileus, atelectasis, anemia, and limb contractures were among the problems dealt with. Devoted nursing care, an experienced medical team, respirators, minute ventilation meters, an airway pressure alarm, a hypothermia unit, a cardiac monitor pacemaker and facilities for determining blood-gas tensions were all necessary in the successful treatment of this patient. It is suggested that patients with severe tetanus should be transferred, under anesthesia and artificially ventilated, to hospitals possessing all these facilities.