A double-blind clinical trial comparing alcuronium with pancuronium.

Alcuronium and pancuronium were compared as muscle relaxants in a randomized and double-blind trial in routine clinical circumstances during combined balanced anesthesia in 40 female patients. The course of endotracheal intubation at 2 min. was statistically significantly better (p less than 0.001) in the pancuronium group than in the alcuronium group. There were no differences between the two groups regarding relaxation, maintenance of anesthesia and postoperative recovery. In the pancuronium group the systolic blood pressure was significantly higher than in the alcuronium group at 2 minutes after induction (p less than 0.01), at 2 minutes after intubation (p less than 0.05) and before incision (p less than 0.05). Also the diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher in the pancuronium group at 2 minutes after induction (p less than 0.001), before incision (p less than 0.01) and at 2 minutes after incision (p less than 0.05) than in the alcuronium group. Thus alcuronium is preferable when hypertensive episodes are to be avoided whereas pancuronium would be more suitable when hypotension can be expected.