title: The effects of rapacuronium on histamine release and hemodynamics in adult patients undergoing general anesthesia.
abstract: Neuromuscular blocking drugs may have variable effects on heart rate (HR) and blood pressure. Rapacuronium is a rapid-acting, steroidal-derived neuromuscular blocking drug whose hemodynamic effects have not been characterized. We studied the effects of 1, 2, and 3 mg/kg rapacuronium on histamine release, HR, and blood pressure in 47 ASA physical status II or III adult patients after the induction of anesthesia with etomidate/fentanyl/N2O. Plasma histamine concentrations were measured before induction and immediately before and 1, 3, and 5 min after the rapid administration of rapacuronium. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) decreased after rapacuronium administration, but there were no significant differences among the groups for changes in HR or MAP, and there was no correlation between changes in MAP or HR and increases in histamine levels. There were no changes in HR or MAP among five patients who had significant (> or = 1 ng/mL) increases in histamine from baselin. Seven patients had bronchospasm without increases in plasma histamine levels. Rapacuronium 2-3 mg/kg increased plasma histamine levels. However, clinically significant histamine-related sequelae did not occur in this population with 1- to 3-mg/kg doses of rapacuronium, and cardiovascular changes were not directly correlated with histamine release. Rapacuronium administration can produce hypotension via mechanisms that do not seem to be related to histamine release.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rapacuronium, a new steroidal-derived muscle relaxant, may release histamine and produce slight changes in blood pressure and heart rate after administration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pitts
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thanopoulos
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Szlam
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bastian
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D006632:Histamine / Q000097:blood; D006636:Histamine Release / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D003473:Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014673:Vecuronium Bromide / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003473:Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents; D014673:Vecuronium Bromide; D006632:Histamine; C082938:rapacuronium