Raghavan Suresh Babu, Meenu Shaji, Madhu Velayudhan, Sivakumar Pillai
BACKGROUND Incomplete recovery from muscle relaxants is a potentially hazardous condition. Calcium ions play a significant role in neuromuscular transmission. This study is to find out whether Ca2+ administration after reversal with neostigmine and glycopyrrolate could enhance the recovery from neuromuscular blockade. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients aged between 18 and 60 belonging to ASA status 1 and 2 undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia using non-depolarizing muscle relaxant were included in the study. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. First group received Calcium gluconate along with neostigmine for reversal of neuromuscular blockade while the second group received normal saline along with reversal. Muscle power was assessed by “tongue depressor mouth clench test”. Time to achieve full recovery was compared between the two groups. RESULTS The group which received calcium gluconate recovered much faster than the saline group. Since p-value is found to be highly significant, there is significant difference in the time of attainment of full muscle power between the two groups. CONCLUSION Calcium administration with Neostigmine enhances neuromuscular recovery from non-depolarizing muscle relaxants.
