Dose-response relation and time course of.

The dose-response relation of pipecuronium, the time course of its neuromuscular blocking effects, and the reversibility of the residual block by neostigmine have been investigated in patients under sevofluraney NO Anesthesia using a neuromuscular transmission analyzer (Accelograph, Biometer, Denmark). After an initial dose of pipecuronium (0.04 mg·kg, i.v., the maximum block rate, onset time, the time from administration until 25% recovery and 50% recovery of control twitch height of the first response to train-of-four nerve stimulation and the interval time of administration of maintenance dose (0.005 mg·kg, i.v.) were 93.7±7.68%, 5.0±1.84, 55.4 ±23.92,73.0±29.44 and 38.7±15.50 minutes, respectively. The average intubation score (excellent; 0, good; 1 fair; 2, poor; 3) was 0.63±0.56 at the level of 95.88±5.06% block. Neostigmine (1.5 mg) promptly reversed the residual neuromuscular blockade induced by pipecuronium (reversal time: 10.1±2.98 minutes). No side effects attributable to pipecuronium was seen in this study. In conclusion, pipecuronium is a very useful nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent especially for moderately long surgical procedure over 4-5 hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]