Postoperative Residual Paralysis After Cardiac Surgery

Is Postoperative Residual Curarisation Still an Issue at the Moment of Weaning of the ICU Patient Following Cardiac Surgery?

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03291184

Enrollment

Registered

2017-09-25

Start date

2017-09-04

Completion date

2018-03-08

Last updated

2018-04-10

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Postoperative Residual Curarization

Keywords

neuromuscular blockade, neuromuscular monitoring

Brief summary

The main objective of this study is to describe the incidence of postoperative residual paralysis (mean train-of-four \<90%) when weaning from the ventilator in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after elective cardiac surgery. Train-of-four monitoring is a widely used term for the peripheral nerve stimulation used in neuromuscular blockade monitoring. When the patient is ready for weaning from the ventilator, an ICU doctor will perform a measurement of the train-of-four at the thumb with a neuromuscular transmission monitor. Every value below 90% will be considered as residual paralysis and treated appropriately by means of a reversal agent.

Detailed description

Postoperatively, in the ICU, readiness-for-weaning is based on ICU doctor-nurse-driven institutional weaning guidelines: 6 hours after arrival in the ICU, a patient who is normothermic, hemodynamically stable, has normal blood gasses and absence of residual bleeding. The ICU nurse caring for the patient will start weaning the patient from the ventilator, following these departmental guidelines.

Interventions

DEVICEperipheral neuromuscular monitor

Residual paralysis can only be measured by neuromuscular transmission monitoring of a peripheral nerve, typically the ulnar nerve innervating the adductor pollicis muscle.

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Masking description

The participant will still be under sedation at the moment of measuring neuromuscular blockade. The care provider will perform measurements, while the investigator is blinded.

Intervention model description

Patients admitted to the ICU after elective cardiac surgery and ready for weaning from the ventilator.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 90 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* patients admitted to the ICU after elective cardiac surgery

Exclusion criteria

* emergency cardiac surgery

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
postoperative residual curarisation	6 hours after arrival in the ICU	mean train-of-four \<90% as measured by neuromuscular blockade monitoring

Countries

Belgium

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026