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Eltanolone for induction of anaesthesia in the surgical patient A comparison of dose requirements in young and elderly patients
Author(s) -
SEAR J. W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1997.tb04862.x
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , adverse effect , general anaesthesia , blood pressure , potency , heart rate , surgery , biochemistry , chemistry , in vitro
Background The relative potency of the steroid anaesthetic agent eltanolone has been compared with respect to induction of anaesthesia in ASA I and II young (1840: years) and elderly (>65 years) patients. Results: Anaesthesia was adequately induced in 12/40 elderly and 7/40 young patients. The lowest effective induction dose was 0.2 mg/kg in elderly and 0.3 mg/kg in young patients. This gave a relative potency of 0.28 (95% CI 0.12–52; P =0.0039). The cardiovascular effects associated with induction were small; other side‐effects included involuntary movement and hypertonus, and respiratory upsets (apnoea, hiccups and coughing). Conclusion: The effective induction dose of eltanolone was significantly lower in the elderly patients; but the drug safety profile was similar in both age groups of patients. Method: 113 temazepam premedicated patients (60 elderly) were evaluated in an open randomised study. They were allocated to receive doses between 0.05 and 0.75 mg/kg given i.v. over 30 s. The first 33 patients formed a pilot phase; the formal study comprised 80 patients. The primary efficacy variable was loss of verbal contact within 120 s and an effect lasting more than 4 min. All patients breathed 100% oxygen throughout the study period. Safety data (heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory apnoea, involuntary movements, hypertonus and other adverse effects) were noted.