• Ramkumar Venkateswaran, Souvik Chaudhuri, and K M Deepak.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India.
• Anesth Essays Res. 2012 Jan 1;6(1):62-9.

ContextThough rocuronium has a rapid onset of neuromuscular blockade like succinylcholine without the latter's adverse effects, its use is limited due to its prolonged action.AimAim was to evaluate whether reducing the intubating dose of rocuronium shortens its duration of action, yet provides clinically acceptable intubating conditions.Settings And Designtt was a prospective, randomized, and double blind trial.Materials And Methods100 American Society of Anaesthesiologists Physical Status (ASAPS) I or II patients aged between 18-65 years scheduled for elective surgery were randomly allotted one of the four rocuronium groups (rocuronium dose of 0.3 mg/kg intubated at 60 s or at 90 s, rocuronium 0.6 mg/kg intubated at 60 s or at 90 s) orsuccinylcholine group (succinylcholine 1.0 mg/kg intubated at 60 s) and intubating conditions were assessed with: Ease of laryngoscopy, vocal cord position, and reaction to insertion of tracheal tube and cuff inflation.Statistical AnalysisStatistical tests used were analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi-Square test, Repeated measures of ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsRocuronium in dosage of 0.3 mg/kg gaveclinically acceptable intubating conditions in 35% and 60% subjects at 60 s or 90 s, respectively, whereas in dosage of 0.6 mg/kg, intubating conditions were acceptable in 80% and 100% subjects intubated at 60 s and 90 s.ConclusionRocuronium in dose of 0.3 mg/kg does not give clinically acceptable intubating conditions at 60 or 90 s but has shorter duration of action. Rocuronium in dose of 0.6 mg/kg gives clinically acceptable intubating conditions at 60 or 90 s, comparable to succinylcholine 1 mg/kg.

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