• F K Pühringer, P Keller, A Löckinger, A Kleinsasser, A Scheller, C Raedler, and C Keller.
• Department of Anaesthesia and General Intensive Care Medicine, University of Innsbruck, Austria. friedrich.puehringer@uibk.ac.at
• Can J Anaesth. 2000 Apr 1;47(4):347-9.

PurposeControversial data about the effect of smoking on the dose-requirements and the pharamcodynamics of rocuronium have been reported recently. This study was conducted to evaluate the dose-requirements and the pharmacodynamics of rocuronium in smokers using target controlled infusion.MethodsThe dose-requirements of rocuronium for 60 min relaxation, using target controlled infusion, given under intravenous anaesthesia with propofol, fentanyl and nitrous oxide was studied in 37 smokers and 37 non-smokers. Initially 450 microg x kg(-1) rocuronium were administered, neuromuscular effects were quantified by recording the single twitch response of the adductor pollicis muscle after ulnar nerve stimulation using a force transducer, and the neuromuscular block was kept at 80% by target controlled infusion throughout the procedure.ResultsThe dose-requirements for one hour relaxation were 867 +/- 116 microg x kg(-1) x hr(-1) for smokers (S) and 839 +/- 149 microg x kg(-1) x hr(-1) for non-smokers (NS). The duration to 10% and the spontaneous recovery from 25% to 75% of the control twitch response also showed no differences between S (17.2 +/- 3.4 min, 10.6 +/- 0.9 min) and NS (18.9 +/- 4.3 min, 10.9 +/- 3.2 min), as well as maximum block, onset time and infusion rate.ConclusionSmoking does not alter the dose-requirements for rocuronium and no effects on the onset time, degree of block, time to maximum block, duration 10% and spontaneous recovery index were observed.

19 keywords...

hide…