Successful Treatment of Idiopathic Intractable Hiccup With Cisatracurium Under Intravenous General Anesthesia: A Case Report.

ABSTRACT

We report the successful treatment of idiopathic intractable hiccups with cisatracurium under intravenous general anesthesia. The patient had a history of hiccups for 19 years that were refractory to a variety of treatments. When his hiccups were accompanied by vomiting, insomnia, shortness of breath, and poor oral intake for 9 days, he sought relief. We administered a nondepolarizing muscle relaxant, cisatracurium, during total intravenous anesthesia, to stop the hiccups. The duration of the anesthetic was determined by the time it took for the patient to recover from the neuromuscular blockade without reversal the cisatracurium. On emergence he had no hiccups. When the hiccups recurred 2 weeks later after a big meal, we repeated the procedure with success. He has now been hiccup free for at least 6 months.