Procaine Dosage and Interaction With Gallamine in Children

Abstract

The dose of procaine (in mg/kg/min) necessary to obtain a satisfactory light level of general anaesthesia in children from 18 to 168 months old, diminishes with increasing age. There is no difference in the procaine requirement between sexes. When higher doses of procaine are injected, greater amounts of gallamine are needed to maintain satisfactory relaxation. Young children require higher doses of gallamine than the older ones. A curvilinear regression has been constructed so that mg/kg/min doses of procaine in relation to sex and age can easily be found.

The Use of Muscle Relaxants in Infants and Children

“…There is evidence that, compared with the adult, infants and children are more resistant to the actions of both types of neuromuscular blocking agents and this resistance gradually declines as adolescence is approached. Thus Salgado (1962) found that the dose of gallamine fell from 0.55 mg/kg/min at 18 months to 0.03 mg/kg/min at the age of 14 years. Telford and Keats (1957) found that the mean suxamethonium requirements for cardiovascular surgery fell from 278 [xg/kg/ min at the age of 1-6 months to 98 ^g/kg/min at the age of 12-16 years.…”