Initial experience with Minaxolone. A water-soluble steroid intravenous anaesthetic agent.

Minaxolone has been used to induce anaesthesia, and in incremental doses to supplement nitrous oxide, in 100 patients undergoing minor surgical procedures. Half the patients received a small dose of fentanyl before induction. Minaxolone proved to be a satisfactory induction agent. The commonest complications were an increase in muscle tone and involuntary muscle movements, which in some patients occurred in the recovery period: their incidence was reduced by fentanyl. There was a notably low incidence of nausea and vomiting.