Fukushima J. Med. Sci.,
Vol. 53, No. 2, 2007

[Original Article]

EFFECTS OF OLPRINONE ON NEUROMUSCULAR BLOCKADE
CAUSED BY VECURONIUM

TAKAAKI KATAYAMA¹⁾, YUHJI SAITOH²⁾, CHIAKI NEMOTO¹⁾,
TAKAHIRO HIRAMA¹⁾, TSUYOSHI ISOSU¹⁾ and MASAHIRO MURAKAWA¹⁾

¹⁾Department of Anesthesiology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan, ²⁾Department of Anesthesiology, Satte General Hospital, Saitama, Japan

(Received November 27, 2006, accepted May 10, 2007)

Abstract: We studied the effect of olprinone on neuromuscular blockade caused by vecuronium. Thirty women undergoing nitrous oxide-oxygen-isoflurane anesthesia were randomly divided into olprinone (n=15) or control group (n=15). In the olprinone group, the patients received an intravenous initial loading dose of olprinone at a rate of 2 μg/kg/minute for 5 minutes, followed by a continuous infusion of olprinone at 0.3 μg/kg/minute. In the control group, the patients received normal saline. Thirty minutes after the beginning of the infusion of olprinone or normal saline, vecuronium (0.1 mg/kg) was administered. The degree of neuromuscular blockade was monitored electromyographically at the adductor pollicis muscle. The time to the onset of neuromuscular blockade, and to the return of the first, second, third, or fourth response in train-of-four (TOF; T1, T2, T3, or T4, respectively), and the time course of recovery of T1/control did not differ significantly between the groups. After 50-70 minutes of vecuronium, the TOF ratio (T4/T1) in the olprinone group was significantly higher than in the control group. During this period, the mean TOF ratios in the control and olprinone groups were 0.15-0.39 and 0.40-0.57, respectively. In conclusion, olprinone accelerates the recovery of the TOF ratio, and the quickening effect of olprinone on the recovery of the TOF ratio may be apparent 50-70 minutes after vecuronium in anesthetized patients receiving vecuronium.

Key words: olprinone, vecuronium, train-of-four

片山貴晶，斎藤祐司，根本千秋，平間孝広，五十洲剛，村川雅洋

Corresponding author: Takaaki Katayama
E-mail: yamanobori3192@yahoo.co.jp