title: Peri-operative dreaming in paediatric patients who receive suxamethonium.
abstract: A prospective study is described of peri-operative dreaming in 144 paediatric patients aged 5-14 years who received suxamethonium for day case surgery. No case of awareness was elicited. One group received pretreatment with 80 micrograms/kg [corrected] tubocurarine. The incidence of dreaming in the 72 patients who were not pretreated was 16.7% compared with 2.8% in the patients pretreated with tubocurarine. This difference is statistically significant. The use of an intermittent suxamethonium technique gives a high incidence of dreaming which may be caused by muscle spindle discharge that produces cerebral arousal. Pretreatment with a non-depolarizing agent decreases this risk of dreaming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthetics, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool.
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Childs
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Bush
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004325:Dreams / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009068:Movement; D011229:Preanesthetic Medication; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013390:Succinylcholine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014403:Tubocurarine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013390:Succinylcholine; D014403:Tubocurarine