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Effect of voluntary tetanus on recovery of vecuronium block in the isolated forearm
Author(s) -
GOPINATH S.,
HOOD J. R.,
ULHAQ M.,
CAMPKIN N. T.,
FELDMAN S. A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1993.tb07416.x
Subject(s) - medicine , forearm , tetanus , anesthesia , fade , neuromuscular blockade , neuromuscular monitoring , volunteer , block (permutation group theory) , surgery , mathematics , geometry , biology , computer science , agronomy , immunology , vaccination , operating system
Summary This study was conducted to investigate the effect of voluntary tetanus on the recovery from neuromuscular block produced by a nondepolarising drug, vecuronium, in the isolated forearm. We have studied the recovery indices and train of four fade at different levels of recovery following vecuronium in both isolated forearms simultaneously, in six sets of experiments. In one hand the volunteer performed a maximum contraction of his thumb repeatedly at fixed intervals. We found that following voluntary tetanus there is an increased rate of recovery from nondepolarising neuromuscular block; mean Recovery Index (7.4, SD 0.97) compared to control Recovery Index (10.55, SD 2.58), p < 0.05. The train‐of‐four fade also showed a sustained reduction in the isolated forearm which underwent voluntary tetanus. During the later phase of recovery the train‐of‐four fade showed significant difference statistically (p < 0.01). The findings of this study supports the hypothesis that more rapid recovery associated with voluntary tetanus is due to a reduction in the presynaptic block thus resulting in an increased rate of transmitter release.