Variability of duration of action of neuromuscular-blocking drugs in elderly patients
Background: Steroid‐based, non‐depolarizing neuromuscular‐blocking (NMB) drugs (e.g. rocuronium, vecuronium) are characterized by organ‐dependent elimination and significantly longer durations of action in elderly compared to young patients. Cisatracurium is a benzylisoquinolinium NMB drug with a d...
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Published in | Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 312 - 315 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK; Malden, USA
Blackwell Publishing Ltd/Inc
01.03.2005
Blackwell |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background: Steroid‐based, non‐depolarizing neuromuscular‐blocking (NMB) drugs (e.g. rocuronium, vecuronium) are characterized by organ‐dependent elimination and significantly longer durations of action in elderly compared to young patients. Cisatracurium is a benzylisoquinolinium NMB drug with a duration of action not altered by ageing. The objective of the study was to determine if elderly patients had less variability in duration of action with 2 × ED95 of cisatracurium compared to equipotent doses of rocuronium or vecuronium.
Methods: Informed consent was obtained from 66 elderly patients with normal renal and liver function. Preoperative midazolam (1 mg) was given IV. The anaesthestic induction was with 5 mg kg−1 thiopental and 2 µg kg−1 fentanyl. The patients received 0.6 mg kg−1 rocuronium, 0.1 mg kg−1 vecuronium or 0.1 mg kg−1 cisatracurium. Anaesthetic maintenance was with sevoflurane in oxygen/nitrous oxide. Neuromuscular‐blocking duration of action was defined as the return of T1 twitch height to 25% of control. Variability was determined by subtracting the actual duration of action from the mean duration of action for each drug.
Results: The durations of action (range, min) were: cisatracurium, 37–81; vecuronium, 35–137; and rocuronium, 33–119. The median of the variability of duration was significantly less with cisatracurium (7 min) compared to vecuronium (18 min) and rocuronium (18 min) (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: When used with sevoflurane/N2O, there was a two‐fold greater variability of duration of neuromuscular blockade in elderly patients receiving rocuronium or vecuronium compared with cisatracurium. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-0MKM0TCJ-D istex:B7F94BB48E34519D81AD8344DA59F46B3EC67EEC ArticleID:AAS634 This study was performed at the VAMC, Milwaukee. Technical support for the TOF‐WatchSX and the statistical analyses were from Utah. Funding: supported in part by an Educational Grant from Abbott Laboratories, Inc. ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 ObjectType-News-3 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0001-5172 1399-6576 |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1399-6576.2005.00634.x |