Anesthesiology
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Rocuronium is a new nondepolarizing muscle relaxant with a rapid onset and intermediate duration of action. Although the pharmacokinetics of rocuronium have been determined in adults and the elderly, similar data are lacking in children. Accordingly, rocuronium's pharmacokinetics were determined in children aged 4-11 yr. ⋯ Maturational changes were observed in rocuronium's weight-normalized clearance but not in its weight-normalized distributional clearance or volume of distribution. Assuming that the duration of rocuronium's neuromuscular effects is influenced by its pharmacokinetics, repeated administration or continuous infusion of rocuronium should result in larger dose requirements and more rapid recovery in younger, compared to older, children.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of the effects of hypothermia, pentobarbital, and isoflurane on cerebral energy stores at the time of ischemic depolarization.
In an accompanying article, we report that hypothermia (27-28 degrees C) delayed postischemic cortical depolarization longer than did large-dose pentobarbital or isoflurane anesthesia, even though preischemic cerebral metabolic rates for glucose were similar in the three groups. To examine the mechanism that may underlie these differences, we measured the cerebral concentrations of high-energy phosphates (including adenosine triphosphate [ATP] and adenosine diphosphate) in normal conditions and at the moment of depolarization. ⋯ The ATP/energy charge threshold for cortical depolarization was similar in all groups despite differing temperature or anesthetic conditions. Because hypothermia increased the time until depolarization, the rate of decrease in ATP concentration must have been slower in these animals than in the two groups receiving large-dose anesthetics, despite similar preischemic cerebral metabolic rates for glucose. This finding is similar to that of earlier studies and indicates that factors other than preischemic metabolic rate are responsible for controlling energy utilization after ischemia.