An Easier Way to Remember if Succinylcholine is Safe for Your Patient.

Hint: if they have Guillain-Barre Syndrome it’s not…

Succinylcholine (Sux) is a depolarizing skeletal muscle relaxant. It combines with the cholinergic receptors of the motor end plate to produce sustained depolarization and paralysis, and it’s rapid onset makes it an effective agent for use in rapid sequence intubation (RSI).

https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0-HtAratSYOgKTetmgqn1W8Ew#Design_Challenge_Subway_Summit_2019

This mechanism of action however, also makes it a potentially dangerous drug in a subset of patients who need RSI because of its potential to cause hyperkalemia, subsequent cardiac arrhythmias, and death.

But if remembering that long list of specific contraindications to Sux seems intimidating and inclines you to avoid it as your go to RSI paralytic, don’t give up. Sux remains one of the safest, most useful, and reliable agents for RSI. And with only a few exceptions, most of the contraindictions on the list are related in some way to…