Pipecuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade during nitrous oxide-fentanyl, enflurane, isoflurane, and halothane anesthesia in surgical patients

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the capacity of several anesthetics to augment pipecuronium neuromuscular blockade. The potency of pipecuronium was determined with single-bolus administration of 20-50 micrograms/kg in 160 patients. Patients were anesthetized with N2O/O2 (60:40) supplemented with fentanyl (4-5 micrograms/kg), halothane (0.8%), isoflurane (1.2%), or enflurane (1.7%). Neuromuscular blockade was measured by an acceleration-responsive transducer (the Accelograph, Biometer International, Odense, Denmark). Responses were defined in terms of percent depression in first-twitch height and train-of-four response, and the dose-response curves were constructed after probit transformation of the responses. The dose-response curves were found to be parallel for both first twitch height and train-of-four responses. The dose-response lines for the enflurane and isoflurane groups were displaced significantly (P less than 0.01) to the left of the line for the fentanyl-N2O group. The calculated doses producing 50% depression of first twitch height were 21.9, 21.2, 18.9, and 17.8 micrograms/kg for the N2O-fentanyl, halothane, isoflurane, and enflurane groups, respectively. Corresponding calculated doses for 50% depression of train-of-four response were significantly smaller (15.5, 14.4, 13.7, 11.9 micrograms/kg, respectively). The enhancing effects of the volatile anesthetics were reflected by significant prolongation of the clinical duration of neuromuscular blockade by pipecuronium. It is concluded that the potency of pipecuronium is enhanced more by enflurane and isoflurane than halothane or fentanyl-N2O anesthesia.