Horng Huei-Chi, Lin Bo-Feng, Wang Ting-Chuan, Lin Shinn-Long, Liaw Wen-Jinn, Wang Hung-Jui, Wong Chih-Shung
Department of Anesthesiology, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Acta Anaesthesiol Taiwan. 2012 Dec;50(4):147-9. doi: 10.1016/j.aat.2012.12.003. Epub 2013 Jan 5.
An intravenous bolus of fentanyl often induces a cough reflex. This study investigates whether priming with rocuronium can effectively attenuate fentanyl-induced coughing.
The study involved 260 participants, aged between 18 and 80 years of age, who were undergoing various elective surgeries. They were randomly assigned to two groups. Patients in the study group (the rocuronium group) were treated with intravenous (IV) 0.06 mg/kg rocuronium, whereas those in the control group were treated with the same volume of normal saline. Fentanyl (1.5 μg/kg IV, given over 2 seconds) was administered 30 seconds after the injection of rocuronium or normal saline. We recorded the number of coughs for 1 minute after the fentanyl injection.
Patients in the rocuronium group showed a significantly lower incidence of coughing (8.5% vs. 23.1%, in the control group; p < 0.05) and a milder severity of cough in comparison with the patients in the control group.
Pretreatment with IV rocuronium (0.06 mg/kg) suppressed the cough reflex induced by fentanyl. Therefore, priming with rocuronium may be a clinically useful method for preventing fentanyl-induced cough.
