European journal of anaesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Accelerated onset of non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs: pancuronium, atracurium and vecuronium. A comparison with succinylcholine.
The time of onset and degree of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) in 80 anaesthetized patients, following either a single bolus injection of pancuronium 0.95 mg kg-1, atracurium 0.53 mg kg-1 or vecuronium 0.07 mg kg-1, or divided doses of pancuronium 0.15 mg kg-1, atracurium 0.07 mg kg-1 or vecuronium 0.01 mg kg-1 administered 3 min or 5 min before the second dose of pancuronium 0.08 mg kg-1, atracurium 0.46 mg kg-1 or vecuronium 0.06 mg kg-1, were determined and compared to the same parameters measured following succinylcholine administration (1 mg kg-1). The time to maximum NMB (100%) following the administration of succinylcholine was 58.1 +/- 5.3 s, whereas the time to maximum NMB (100%) following a single bolus injection of either pancuronium, atracurium or vecuronium was 130.6 +/- 22.2, 93.0 +/- 6.4, 127.5 +/- 13.0 s, respectively. ⋯ However, when the two doses of drug were separated by 5 min, only small, non-significant further decreases occurred in the time required to achieve maximum blockade. Although the time to maximum NMB following divided doses of pancuronium, atracurium or vecuronium is significantly longer than that for succinylcholine, divided dosing significantly decreases the time required to reach maximal NMB.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Assessment of neuromuscular block: comparison of three clinical methods and evoked electromyography.
Three clinical methods, visual, tactile and 'spring', for the assessment of neuromuscular blockade were compared to the EMG recording evoked during enflurane anaesthesia and relaxation with vecuronium in 33 patients. During maintenance of the block, the tactile method, based on the recognition of the strength of movement of the patient's thumb against the observer's fingers, was more accurate than the two other methods. The correlation coefficient compared to the TI of the EMG was 0.77. ⋯ Using the spring, a clinically significant residual fade (TOF less than 0.50) could be detected in nine of the 11 cases. As residual relaxation cannot be ruled out using the clinical methods, quantitative recording of neuromuscular function is recommended in cases where complete recovery from muscle relaxation is of special importance. The spring method is the most reliable clinical method during recovery, while the tactile method is the most accurate during the maintenance of neuromuscular block.