A comparison of continuous infusion of vecuronium and atracurium in midline and paramedian laparotomies.

This was a study to compare continuous intravenous infusion of atracurium with continuous intravenous infusion of vecuronium for intraoperative muscle relaxation in 62 ASA I / II patients. Scheduled for laparotomies and pelvic surgeries under general anaesthesia. They were randomly allocated in two groups to receive either vecuronium infusion of 50 microg/kg/hour following a bolus dose of 0.1 microg/kg, or atracurium infusion of 400 microg/kg/hour following a bolus dose of 0.5 microg/kg. The mean infusion dose of atracurium was 478 +/- 44.11 microg/kg/hour and that of vecuronium was 63.2 +/- 74 microg/kg/hour for adequate muscle relaxation. The depth of neuromuscular blockade was monitored by using peripheral nerve stimulator so that only one twitch of train of four was present, resistance to ventilation, surgical relaxation and haemodynamic changes. Vecuronium infusions produced more haemodynamic stability than atracurium infusions. Vecuronium produced lesser change in systolic blood pressure (mean change of 3. 46 +/- 3.33%) from baseline values as compared to atracurium (mean change of 5.81 +/- 3.73%) from baseline values ( p < 0.01) which was statistically significant. The difference in mean pulse rate change from baseline value in the atracurium group (4.78 +/- 2.745%) was less than that in the vecuronium group (5.99 +/- 2.67%), which was not statistically significant. Spontaneous recovery was faster with vecuronium (540.94 +/- 76.46 seconds) as compared to atracurium (596. 33 +/- 72.48 seconds). 84.4% of patients who received vecuronium fell within good to very good category of muscle relaxation as compared to 63.3% in atracurium group. There were no cost benefits when either agents were used in infusion form.