THE INTRAVENOUS INJECTION OF MAGNESIUM SULPHATE FOR ANESTHESIA IN ANIMALS

These experiments justify the following general conclusions. By the intravenous injection of M/4 magnesium sulphate into dogs at a certain rate, a stage can be reached where the abdominal walls are completely relaxed and when section of the abdomen and stimulation of sensitive parts of the parietal peritoneum do not produce pain or elicit any reaction of the animal. At the same time spontaneous respiration may still be maintained within normal limits and the lid reflex be fair or even normal. In this stage intratracheal intubation for artificial respiration can be easily accomplished. This stage may be attained in 12 to 14 minutes when the rate of injection is about 3 cc. per minute. When this stage is once attained the rate of injection should gradually be reduced, otherwise, sooner or later, spontaneous respiration will be abolished, and by a further maintenance of the rate of injection all the skeletal muscles may become paralyzed. When the injection of magnesium is continued for a longer period, the paralytic effects of the magnesium injection will set in, even when administered at a slow rate. The paralysis of the respiratory function is readily met by intrapharyngeal insufflation, which is easily executed even without training in this procedure, or by the method of intratracheal insufflation, if executed by one trained in its management. When the respiration of the animal is accomplished by insufflation, the paralytic effect of the magnesium may be abolished fairly rapidly by an intravenous injection of about 10 cc. of an M/8 calcium chloride solution; or it may disappear slowly, after the infusion of the magnesium solution is discontinued for some time. The latter mode of disappearance may be favorably accelerated by an intravenous infusion of 60 to 100 cc. of an M/4 solution of sodium sulphate. The production of anesthesia by intravenous injection of magnesium sulphate should not be undertaken unless an apparatus for intrapharyngeal insufflation is at hand, because in exceptional cases the disappearance of spontaneous respiration may be one of the earliest consequences of the magnesium injection. The injection of calcium chloride should not be employed in cases in which the subject shows cardiac insufficiency. In such instances, moreover, injections of magnesium should not be used for the purpose of anesthesia; at least not until greater experience has been acquired in the employment of this method.