Sugammadex 2.0 mg kg(-1) administered at reappearance of T(2) was significantly faster in reversing rocuronium-induced blockade than neostigmine was in reversing cisatracurium-induced block.

Spinal anaesthesia is the primary anaesthetic technique for many types of surgery. Adjuncts to the local anaesthetics (LA) used in spinal anaesthesia can exhibit undesirable side-effects, limiting their use, but magnesium may have advantages in this respect. We sought randomized control trials (RCTs) in patients undergoing all types of surgery and in women in labour to compare the effect of intrathecal magnesium sulphate ± LA ± lipophilic opioid (experimental group) with the use of either intrathecal lipophilic opioids ± LA or LA only (control group). The primary outcome was the duration of spinal anaesthesia. Secondary outcomes were: onset and time to maximal sensory blockade, onset of motor block, and duration of sensory and motor blockade. We found 15 RCTs comprising 980 patients. The duration of spinal anaesthesia was significantly increased in the experimental group [standardized mean difference (SMD) -1.05 (-1.70, -0.41) (P = 0.001)], compared with the control group. This increased duration of spinal anaesthesia was seen in non-obstetric studies, SMD -1.38 (-2.11, -0.66) (P = 0.0002), but not in obstetric studies, SMD -0.55 (-1.87, 0.77) (P = 0.41). There was no delay in the onset of sensory or motor blockade. The incidence of hypotension and pruritus was similar in both groups. Heterogeneity was high in all outcome measures. The duration of spinal anaesthesia may be increased by the addition of magnesium to lipophilic opioids ± LA.

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BSCPB offers analgesic efficacy in the early postoperative period for up to 24 h after thyroid surgery, with reduced length of hospital stay, but without any beneficial effect on PONV.

Twenty anephric and 20 healthy patients received a bolus dose of mivacurium 150 micrograms kg-1. When the first EMG response (T1) of the train-of-four had recovered to 5% of control (T0), an infusion of mivacurium 10 micrograms kg-1 min-1 was started and adjusted to keep T1 at 5%. Ten patients in each group were given neostigmine 35 micrograms kg-1 when the infusion was stopped when T1/T0 had recovered to 20%; in the others recovery was spontaneous. After the bolus dose of mivacurium, mean (SD) depression of T1 was greater in the anephric group than in the normal group (98.4 (3.5) vs 96.8 (4.4)%; P less than 0.01) and recovery of T1/T0 to 5% was slower (15.3 (6.9) vs 9.8 (3.5) min; P less than 0.01). Anephric patients required a slower infusion rate (6.3 (1.9) vs 10.4 (2.8) micrograms kg-1 min-1; P less than 0.001). Neostigmine hastened recovery of both T1/T0 and T4/T1 in both groups. Spontaneous recovery of T1/T0 (from 25% to 75%) after the infusion was also slower in anephric patients (12.2 (8.2) vs 7.7 (1.2) min; P less than 0.05). Plasma cholinesterase activity was less in the anephric group (785 (207) vs 943 (217) iu litre-1; P less than 0.05) and there was a (negative) correlation overall between cholinesterase activity and time to 5% recovery of T1/T0 after the bolus dose (r = -0.42; P less than 0.02). We conclude that patients with chronic renal failure may require a reduced dose of mivacurium.

Vecuronium (initial dose 0.1 mg kg-1; incremental doses 0.04 mg kg-1) was given to 21 normal and 21 anephric patients. There were no gross differences between the two groups in the effect or in the duration of action of either initial or incremental doses, except in two anephric patients who were resistant to the agent. Reversal with neostigmine was satisfactory. In normal patients the initial dose of vecuronium was slower in onset of action than was atracurium 0.5 mg kg-1 (26 patients): the first two incremental doses of vecuronium were administered significantly earlier than the corresponding increments of atracurium (0.2 mg kg-1), but the duration of action of increments over-all was not greatly different. However, in anephric patients, except in the resistant patients, the behaviour of vecuronium was similar to that of atracurium (26 patients). A comparison with an initial dose of tubocurarine 0.5 mg kg-1 given to 20 anephric patients and tubocurarine 0.6 mg kg-1 given to 21 normal and 20 anephric patients showed tubocurarine to be longer acting and considerably less predictable. This was particularly so in the anephric group, in which its action sometimes persisted after neostigmine had been given.

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