• G Barbone, M Traversa, and T Fiore.
• Istituto di Anestesiologia e Rianimazione, Università di Bari.
• Minerva Anestesiol. 1994 Jan 1;60(1-2):49-53.

AbstractFor monitoring of vecuronium profound neuromuscular blockade post-tetanic count (PTC) following tetanic stimulation at frequency of 50 and 100 Hz was employed in 25 ASA I-II patients submitted to elective surgery, to evaluate the differences between the two patterns of stimulation and the possible clinical utility of the latter pattern of stimulation. The drugs employed for anaesthesia were: diazepam 0.15 mg kg-1 in premedication, thiopental 4-5 mg kg-1 for induction, suxamethonium 1.5 mg kg-1 for tracheal intubation. Anaesthesia was maintained with N2 + O2 (2:1). Analgesia was obtained with fentanyl at usual doses, and muscular relaxation with vecuronium. The ulnar nerve was stimulated at the wrist with Digistim III Plus and the responses evaluated by tactile method. The pattern of stimulation used was a cyclic one, as described by Howardy Hansen et al. The first dose of vecuronium (0.06 mg kg-1) was administered at recovery from suxamethonium (clinically evaluated) and the other doses (0.06 mg kg-1) when the third response to a train of four appeared. The results show that the PTC following 100 Hz tetanus was greater than the PTC following 50 Hz tetanic stimulation (P < 0.01). The results also show that PTC following 100 Hz tetanus leads to underestimate neuromuscular blockade; yet maybe it has any clinical employment in selected surgical situations such as middle ear and eye surgery, microvascular surgery, neurosurgery.

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