British Journal of Anaesthesia, 1985, Vol. 57, No. 6 562-568
© 1985 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
research-article |
VENTILATORY RESPONSES OF CHILDREN TO CHANGES IN DEADSPACE VOLUME
Studies Using the T-Piece (Mapleson F)System
Department of Anaesthesia, The Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond Street, London
The onset characteristics of pancuronium, tubocurarine and a mixture of these two neuromuscular blocking drugs were studied during the induction of neuromuscular blockade, using a train-of-four pattern of stimulation. Four characteristics of onset were defined: train-of-four fade = a reduction in the height of the fourth twitch greater than a reduction in the height of the first twitch; latent onset time = time from injection of neuromuscular blocker to a greater than 5% reduction in the first twitch in the train-of-four; total onset time = time to 90% reduction in twitch height; manifest onset time = time from 5% to 90% reduction in twitch height. Tubocurarine was associated with significantly more fade than either pancuronium or the mixture. During the period of study the fade profile of the mixture was almost identical to that of pancuronium alone. The mixture had the most rapid total onset time (100.3 s), tubocurarine the slowest (135.1 s) and pancuronium was intermediate (124.0 s). The mixture and tubocurarine had similar latent onset times, while the mixture and pancuronium had similar manifest onset times.
* Present addresses: Department of Anaesthesia, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL.
Present addresses: Department of Anaesthesia, University Hospital, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden.