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Activity of Lower Intercostal and Abdominal Muscle after Upper Abdominal Surgery

Received from the Department of Anaesthetics, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.

Abstract

The decrease in end-expiratory lung volume after upper abdominal surgery has been attributed, in part, to reflex spasm of the abdominal muscles. To examine the influence of abdominal surgery on abdominal muscle tone, electro-myographic (EMG) activity of abdominal and lower intercostal muscle was compared before operation with that at 3 hr and at 24 hr after operation in 18 healthy patients undergoing elective gastric or biliary surgery. After operation, EMG activity increased markedly and showed a phasic pattern of activity associated with respiration in most patients. This was characterized by a progressive increase in EMG activity during expiration with an abrupt decrease at the onset of inspiration. We conclude that increased expiratory activity in abdominal and lower intercostal muscle may be responsible for the decrease in lung volumes that occurs after upper abdominal surgery.

Key Words: MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES—electromyography • MUSCLE—abdominal and lower intercostal • SURGERY, abdominal—postoperative

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. B. Drummond The abdominal muscles in anaesthesia and after surgery Br. J. Anaesth., July 1, 2003; 91(1): 73 - 80. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Q. Rahman, R. N. Kingshott, P. Wraith, W. H. Adams, and G. B. Drummond Association of airway obstruction, sleep, and phasic abdominal muscle activity after upper abdominal surgery Br. J. Anaesth., August 1, 2001; 87(2): 198 - 203. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999