Comparison of Onset Time of Intubation and Intubating Conditions between Rocuronium with Priming and without Priming

Abstract

Introduction: Rocuronium produces faster neuromuscular blockade compared with other nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs. It produces comparable intubating conditions to that of Succinylcholine, but does not have shorter onset time of intubation than the latter. Hence, it may not be preferable for rapid sequence intubation, but Rocuronium with priming may produce comparable intubating time and intubating conditions to that of succinylcholine. so, Rocuronium with priming may be an alternative to succinylcholine in rapid sequence intubation. This study was conducted to compare onset time of intubation between Rocuronium with priming and without priming and intubating conditions between them.

Method: 94 patients of American Society of Anaesthesiologist physical status (ASA PS) I and II, aged 18 to 55 years, of both sexes, were divided into priming and control groups of 47 each. Patients in the priming group received 0.06 mg/kg of Rocuronium and those in the control group received Normal Saline. All patients received Midazolam 30mcg/kg, Fentanyl 2 mcg/kg, followed by Propofol 2 mg/kg for induction. Intubating dose of Rocuronium 0.54 mg/kg in the priming group and 0.6 mg/kg in the control group were administered 3 min after priming. Onset time of intubation was assessed using a train of four stimuli, and the intubating conditions were compared by the Cooper scoring system.

Result: The onset time of intubation was 69.36±8.95 sec in the priming group and 84.04±8.25 sec in the control group and had excellent intubating conditions comparable between the groups, 35 (74.5 %) and 34 (72.3%) in group I and II respectively.

Conclusion: The onset time of intubation was shorter with Rocuronium priming technique while excellent intubating conditions were achieved with both the groups.