Conditions for endotracheal intubation after atracurium and suxamethonium

Intubating conditions following 2 different dosage levels of atracurium, a new non-depolarising muscle relaxant was compared with suxamethonium. The dosage levels of atracurium were 0.5 mg/kg and 0.7 mg/kg while the dosage of suxamethonium chloride was 1 mg/kg. A total of 60 patients with 20 patients in each of the three groups were studied. Premedication was with oral diazepam 10 mg. Anesthesia was induced with fentanyl 1 microgram/kg and thiopentone 5 mg/kg and intubation performed in all cases by the same operator. Excellent intubation conditions were obtained in all patients within 60 seconds in the suxamethonium group, 90 seconds in the atracurium 0.7 mg/kg group, and 120 seconds in the atracurium 0.5 mg/kg group. No side effects were observed and there was circulatory stability. It is concluded that atracurium in a dose of 0.7 mg/kg allows more rapid intubation than the 0.5 mg/kg dose. It is however not as rapid as suxamethonium which remains the drug of choice when very rapid intubation is crucial.