Administration of succinylcholine 1 mg/kg to a pregnant woman rarely causes fetal neuromuscular blockade. Which characteristic of succinylcholine best explains this phenomenon?
In a 45-year-old patient with severe mitral regurgitation, which of the following is the most important hemodynamic condition to avoid during induction of anesthesia?
(A) Decreased heart rate to less than 60 bpm
(B) Increased heart rate to greater than 90 bpm
(C) Increased preload
(D) Increased afterload
(E) Enhanced myocardial contractility
D
Which of the following statements about patient-controlled analgesia using opioids is true?
(A) It is not associated with respiratory depression
(B) It obviates loading doses
(C) It requires a background opioid infusion to be effective
(D) It requires intravenous administration to be effective
(E) It requires less drug than intramuscular dosing for similar analgesia
A healthy 18-year-old youth is scheduled for an emergency operation for removal of a steel splinter from his right iris. Anesthesia is induced with thiopental and pancuronium and, following tracheal intubation, is maintained with nitrous oxide 2 liters, oxygen 2 liters, and halothane 1.5%. Conjunctival instillation of phenylephrine solution 10% increases blood pressure from 110/70 to 230/110 mmHg and decreases pulse from 70 to 46 bpm. The ECG shows a bigeminal pattern. The most appropriate treatment is to
(A) administer lidocaine
(B) administer atropine
(C) administer propranolol
(D) decrease halothane
(E) administer nitroprusside
E
A patient has seizure activity 30 seconds after injection of 0.25% bupivacaine 2 ml with epinephrine 1:200,000 for stellate ganglion block. The most likely cause is
(A) reaction to epinephrine in the anesthetic solution