Muscular hyperactivity after general anaesthesia

Abstract

This study shows that there are two distinct types of muscular hyperactivity which occur during recovery from all types of inhalation anaesthesia. Spasticity, which occurred in the large majority of patients, seemed to be part of the normal recovery pattern. Shivering, on the other hand, occurred in fewer than half the patients and seemed to be largely related to temperature loss during the operative procedure. Muscular hyperactivity during recovery from general anaesthesia has been reported by various authors, and has been particularly related to halothane anaesthesia. In order to determine the nature of this phenomenon more than 215 patients were closely observed during emergence from general anaesthesia with various inhalation agents. It appears that there are two distinct types of muscular hyperactivity. The first, spasticity, occurred in the large majority of patients and seemed to be part of the normal recovery pattern. The second was shivering, which occurred in fewer than half the patients and seemed to be largely related to interoperative heat loss. Both forms of hyperactivity occurred with all agents studied, © 1972 Canadian Anesthesiologists.