PART 5 - Q&A: Neuromuscular Blockade (NMB) Monitoring

Consultant Anaesthetist, NHS Tayside with > 30 years of clinical anaesthesia experience.

Anaesthesia interests: airway, ENT and paediatric anaesthesia, Total Intravenous Anaesthesia (TIVA).  He is an enthusiastic clinical user of a variety of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) monitors and an advocate of routine quantitative monitoring for all patients receiving NMB drugs.

He was a member of the Association of Anaesthetists working party for Standards of Monitoring, for versions published 2015 and 2021; with a particular interest, focus and expertise on NMB monitoring.  Organiser and lead for a number of workshops, seminars, online seminars, webinars on the topic of neuromuscular blockade monitoring.   He has lectured and presented on this topic at a variety of local and national meetings over recent years.

Dr Murphy is a researcher with a long history of interest in topics related to neuromuscular blockade. His areas of interest include the incidence of postoperative residual neuromuscular blockade, complications associated with residual neuromuscular blockade, and the impact of neuromuscular monitoring on patient outcomes. 

J. Ross Renew MD FASA FASE graduated from Clemson University (Chemistry, BS) and completed medical school at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.  Dr. Renew completed anesthesia residency at Mayo Clinic Florida and his fellowship in Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  Dr. Renew then returned to Jacksonville and has worked on staff at Mayo Clinic Florida where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology.  Dr. Renew serves as the Vice Chair of Research and Associate Program Director for the department’s residency program.  His research interests involve neuromuscular blockade and monitoring, transesophageal echocardiography, and caring for the cardiac patient undergoing non-cardiac surgery. 

Lars I Eriksson, MD, PhD, FRCA is Professor and Academic Chair of Anesthesiology and Intensive care medicine at the Karolinska Institutet and Head of Research and Education and staff anesthesiologist at Function Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.  He is also senior advisor to Vice-Chancellor at the Karolinska Institutet.

Over the last two decades, he has headed a major translational research programme focusing on longterm brain dysfunction after anesthesia and surgery and the role of the immune system behind longterm cognitive decline and dementia. He also holds an expertise in neuromuscular physiology and pharmacology. His research group have developed national and international collaborations within experimental, clinical and outcomes research.

He has strategically built a translational research platform for perioperative medicine and intensive care at the Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, consistent of integrated units for basic science research, patient-oriented clinical research and epidemiology.  Funded by major national and international bodies, he has published over 160 original papers and reviews and more than 30 book chapters. Since 2007, he serves as co-editor for the Miller´s Textbook of Anesthesia and has been awarded the T. Cecil.Gray Honorary Gold Medal from Liverpool University, UK, The James E Eckenhoff Honorary Lectureship at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, the Joseph F. Artusio Honorary Lectureship at Weill Cornell Medical School, New York USA, The Acta Scandinavica Research Award and holds an Honorary Fellowship at the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London, UK.

Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and Consultant. He completed anesthesiology residency and fellowships training at the Yale University and was Faculty in Yale School of Medicine for a decade.

Member of Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) for 25 years and Executive Committee and Board of Directors member; chaired APSF Scientific Evaluation Committee.

Past Editor of the Patient Safety Section for Anesthesia & Analgesia. Was selected member of the Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee with the United States FDA.

Founder and Chief Medical Officer of a medical device company that seeks to eliminate residual neuromuscular block and postoperative complications; member of four scientific advisory boards of international companies.

Presented hundreds of lectures nationally and internationally, and has authored over 400 scientific works, including 186 peer-reviewed manuscripts, as well as editorials, letters, books, book chapters, educational videos, and abstracts.