Sufentanil: the effect on cardiocirculatory parameters and intubation conditions on administration of pancuronium or vecuronium

A lack of uniform methodology used in the assessment of moderate doses of sufentanil in combination with non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs formed the basis of the current study which compared under randomized conditions the effects of sufentanil-pancuronium versus sufentanil-vecuronium on hemodynamics, intubating conditions and chest wall rigidity during induction of anesthesia. MATERIAL and METHODS. One hundred and twenty ASA physical status I and II patients aged between 20 and 40 years of age who were undergoing elective urological surgery were included in the study. Premedication consisted of 0.15 mg kg-1 diazepam, given orally 60 min prior to induction of anesthesia. Patients were randomly divided into eight groups of 15 each to receive 0.5 microgram kg-1 sufentanil or placebo in combination with pancuronium (groups I-IV) or vecuronium (groups V-VIII) Within each group, patients were randomly allocated to receive the relaxant either as a single bolus dose of 0.095 mg kg-1 pancuronium or 0.1 mg kg-1 vecuronium, or in divided doses (the priming principle), the smaller priming dose (0.015 mg kg-1 pancuronium or 0.015 mg kg-1 vecuronium) being administered 2 min before induction of anesthesia with 5 mg kg-1 thiopentone, followed by the second intubating dose of 0.080 mg kg-1 pancuronium or 0.085 mg kg-1 vecuronium. To maintain blind study conditions in the groups, the patients given the relaxants in one dose were given an equivalent volume of saline 2 min prior before 5 mg kg-1 thiopentone. Intubating was attempted 60 s after administration of the main dose of the relaxant, and conditions were assessed on a four-point scale: excellent, satisfactory, fair, or poor. Neuromuscular transmission was monitored with the Datex Relaxograph, a neuromuscular transmission analyzer, that utilizes the integration of the EMG response. Producing train-of-four (TOF) stimuli, with a pulse width of 100 microseconds and a frequency of 2 Hz every 20 s the following parameters were recorded by the Datex Relaxograph: The percentage of first twitch amplitude compared with the reference (T1), and the train-of-four (TOF) ratio, i.e., the ratio of last twitch height to first height. Measurements were taken after premedication in the operating room, the value which served as a baseline (t0), 1 min after sufentanil or placebo (t1), 1 min after priming or placebo (t2), 1 min after thiopentone (t3), and 1 min after intubation (t4).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)