About Suxamethonium chloride

Suxamethonium chloride (INN), also known as suxamethonium or succinylcholine, is a paralytic drug used to induce muscle relaxation and short term paralysis, usually to facilitate tracheal intubation. Suxamethonium is sold under the trade names Anectine, Quelicin and Scoline. It is used as a paralytic agent for euthanasia/immobilization of horses.
Suxamethonium acts as a depolarizing neuromuscular blocker. It imitates the action of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, acting non-competitively on muscle type nicotinic receptors. It is degraded by butyrylcholinesterase, a plasma cholinesterase. This hydrolysis by butyrylcholinesterase is much slower than that of acetylcholine by acetylcholinesterase.
Its medical uses are limited to short-term muscle relaxation in anesthesia and intensive care, usually for facilitation of endotracheal intubation. Despite its adverse effects, including life threatening malignant hyperthermia, hyperkalaemia, and anaphylaxis, it is perennially popular in emergency medicine because it arguably has the fastest onset and shortest duration of action of all muscle relaxants. The former is a major point of consideration in the context of trauma care, where endotracheal intubation may need to be completed very quickly. The latter means that, should attempts at endotracheal intubation fail and the patient cannot be ventilated, there is a prospect for neuromuscular recovery and the onset of spontaneous breathing before hypoxaemia occurs.
Suxamethonium chloride is also commonly used as the sole muscle relaxant during electroconvulsive therapy, favoured for its short duration of action.