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Vancomycin Enhances the Neuromuscular Blockade of Vecuronium

Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, and the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky.

Abstract

Vancomycin is frequently used as the antibiotic of choice for methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections and Streptococcus viridans endocarditis, and as a prophylactic antibiotic in patients with prosthetic heart valves or ventriculoperitoneal shunts (14). Adverse reactions to vancomycin include renal toxicity, ototoxicity, cardiovascular depression, histamine release, anaphylactoid reactions, and rare cases of cardiac arrest (5–16). Currently, renal toxicity is considered to be of little clinical significance in patients with normal renal function, but the other side effects of vancomycin are serious. We report a depression of neuromuscular function that developed after intravenously administered vancomycin, something that has not been described previously in the literature.

Key Words: ANTIBIOTICS, VANCOMYCIN.