Theodore H. Stanley, M.D. W. Clayton Petty, M.D. Anesthesiology 1986 contains the Refresher Course manuscripts of the presentations of the 31st Annual Postgraduate Course in Anesthesiology which took place at the Westin Hotel Utah Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 14-18, 1986. The chapters reflect recent and future developments in anesthetic techniques, monitoring instruments and devices, and anesthetic drugs. The purposes of the textbook are to 1) act as a reference for the anesthesiologists attending the meeting, and 2) serve as a vehi cl e to bri ng many of the 1 atest concepts in anesthesiology to others within a short time of the formal presentation. Each chapter is a brief but sharply focused glimpse of the interests in anesthesi a expressed at the conference. Thi s book and its chapters should not be considered complete treatises on the subjects addressed but rather attempts to summarlze the most salient points. This textbook is the fourth in a continuing series documenting the proceedings of the Postgraduate Course in Salt Lake City. We hope that this and the past and future volumes reflect the rapid and continuing evolution of anesthesiology in the late twentieth century. TABLE OF CONTENTS PHARMACOLOGY The New Neuromusucular Blocking Agents D. Ryan Cook, M.D.