Reporting of muscle relaxant effects in anaesthesia files concerning visceral surgery - A observational and multicenter study

Objectives. - To report any item documenting the peroperative muscle relaxant effects management in anaesthesia files issued from visceral surgery processes. Type of study. - Prospective, observational and multicenter. Patients and methods. - A single operator analysed 1453 files proposed by nine anaesthetists' teams. The items selected concerned three periods: induction/tracheal intubation, paralysis maintenance, tracheal extubation. Reporting of 40 categories of items was studied. Results. - Items related to laryngoscopy and intubation conditions were observed in 43% (0-95) [general average (intercentres min-max)] and in 11% (0-97) of the files, respectively. At least one level of paralysis was reported in 23% (0-96) of the files. For the paralysis maintenance, documentation of an effect appeared in 53% (4-96) of the documents. Neuromuscular assessments preceding the tracheal extubation were retrieved in 43% (12-89) of the notes. Adductor pollicis was concerned for 30% (1-89) of these observations. Detection of level of spontaneous paralysis offset, satisfying to the local standard, appeared in 14% (3-19) of the documents. Pharmacological reversal was noted for 25% (4-67) of the patients; the assessment of the effects so produced was reported in 8% (0-58). Conclusion. - In the studied collection, the traceability of the peranaesthetic curarization management appears variable on both qualitative and quantitative levels. The emergence of a dedicated guideline defining the criteria for producing a good documentation of the muscle relaxant use - becomes necessary to secure these practices for all physicians using muscle relaxants. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.