Postanaesthetic use of naloxone hydrochloride after moderate doses of fentanyl.

A consecutive series of 273 anaesthetics is presented. All patients were given moderate doses of droperidol and fentanyl intravenously to supplement nitrous oxide and oxygen anaesthesia. 28.6% of the patients needed reversal of the analgesic respiratory depressant effect at the end of anaesthesia to establish stable spontaneous respiration. The opiate antagonist, naloxone hydrochloride (Narcan), was found to give rapid and reliable reversal of the respiratory depression. A mean dose of 2 mug/kg body weight of naloxone was found adequate in that no patient required further doses in the post-operative period in order to maintain adequate ventilation. Neither does the dose seem to have been too large. Patients in the naloxone group had no need for additional analgesics during the first 5 3/4 hours postoperatively, as compared to the painfree interval of 3 1/4 hours in the control group.