This review makes an advocacy for neuromuscular blockade monitoring during anaesthesia care, by: (i) describing the fundamental principles of the methods currently available, at the same time emphasizing quantitative recording measurements; (ii) describing the different ways in which muscles respond to the effect of neuromuscular blockade and their use in clinical practice; (iii) presenting results of different studies on timing and agents of neuromuscular block reversal, including a recommendation for sugammadex use and experimental results with calabadion and (iv) in the end emphasizing the need for implementing neuromuscular monitoring as a practice that should be used every time a neuromuscular block is required.

LiCl coat enhances HMEs' performance greatly, but reabsorption and systemic action must be considered. In adults, serum lithium levels were lower than the therapeutic range, but lithium is effective at low concentrations and it has a narrow therapeutic range; moreover, toxicity can be observed within this range too. In children, the risk of toxicity is much greater. When lithium coated HMEs are used, the risk/benefit ratio between good performance and systemic reabsorption must be evaluated carefully.

Sedation and analgesia may be needed for many interventional or diagnostic procedures, whose number has grown exponentially lately. The American Society of Anesthesiologists introduced the term “procedural sedation and analgesia” (PSA) and clarified the terminology, moderate sedation and Monitored Anesthesia Care. This review tries to present a nondissociative sedation classification, follow ing ASA guidelines as well as pre-procedural assessment and preparation, in order to choose the appropriate type and level of sedation, patient monitoring and agents, which are most commonly used for sedation and/or analgesia, along with their possible side effects. The paper also lists the possible complications associated with PSA and a few specific particularities of procedural sedation.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has no specific treatment, the only effective therapy currently being limited to minimizing potentially harmful ventilation and avoiding a positive fluid balance. These treatments could not be completely effective in severe disease and several measures must be undertaken simultaneously, including pharmacological therapies aimed at correcting the etiology or targeting the pathogenesis. In this review article we provide update on pharmacological therapies in ARDS, showing their effect on outcome in recent trials.