Safety and Efficacy of Vecuronium in Adolescents and Children

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The neuromuscular and cardiovascular effects of vecuronium (Norcuron, ORG NC45) were studied in 40 adolescents (10–17 yr) and children (2–9 yr) anesthetized with 1.5% inspired halothane. Ten adolescents and ten children were given 20 μg/kg incremental doses of vecuronium to establish a cumulative dose-response curve during train-of-four stimulation. The ED95 dose was 56 μ/kg in children and 40 μg/kg in adolescents, children being significantly (P < 0.01) more resistant to the neuromuscular effects of vecuronium than adolescents. Another group of 10 children and 10 adolescents received a bolus dose of 80 μg/kg. This dose provided satisfactory conditions for endotracheal intubation with complete suppression of train-of-four response in all adolescents and children within 2 min. Thereafter, the twitch tension recovered to 5% of control twitch height in 18.5 ± 1.5 min, to 25% in 24.4 ± 1.6 min, and to 95% in 43.3 ± 2.1 min. Vecuronium (20–80 μg/kg) did not significantly alter the heart rate or blood pressure nor did it affect kidney or liver function as assessed by routine clinical laboratory tests. Vecuronium is a useful nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent with a short to intermediate duration of action, which can be used safely in children and adolescents.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: