Suxamethonium

Indications

• Short-term muscle relaxation in anesthesia and intensive care, usually for facilitation of endotracheal intubation

Administration/Absorption

Distribution

Mechanism

• Depolarizing neuromuscular blocker

• Imitates the action of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, acting non-competitively on muscle type nicotinic receptors.

• Disorganized depolarization of the motor end plate occurs and calcium is released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

Excretion

• quickly degraded by plasma butyrylcholinesterase and the duration of effect is usually in the range of a few minutes