Introduction:

Perioperative anaphylaxis is a potentially lethal clinical condition. The most frequent cause is attributed to neuromuscular blockers.

Objective:

To identify the incidence of anaphylactic reactions secondary to the use of neuromuscular blockers.

Material and methods:

A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional investigation was conducted to assess the incidence of anaphylactic reactions secondary to the use of neuromuscular blockers. The study was carried out at the «Hermanos Ameijeiras» Hospital, in the period between january 2016 and december 2018.

Results:

Of the total elective surgical interventions, 3,431 required general anesthesia and the use of neuromuscular blockers. The female sex predominated with 75%, the age group of 60 years and over with 68 patients (32.7%), ASA II physical condition, 98 patients (41.1%). The average BMI was 22.7 ± 1.14. The mean surgical time was 190 ± 42.5 min. Of all the drugs the most used was atracurium in 90 patients (43.3%), followed by vecuronium 79 (38.0%) and rocuronium 39 (18.8%). The number of adverse events was low. Only four were found, two with atracurium (50%), one with rocuronium and one with 25% vecuronium respectively.

Conclusions:

The presence of anaphylactic reactions was observed with the use of neuromuscular blockers, which occurred in a short period at the beginning of induction. The atracurium presented the highest frequency and all were of mild intensity.

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