title: Rapacuronium: clinical pharmacology.
abstract: The need for a rapid-acting non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent with a short duration of action resulted in the synthesis of rapacuronium. The onset of maximum block with rapacuronium occurs in 60-90 s with doses of 1.5-2.5 mg kg-1 with a duration of clinical relaxation of 15-30 min. Rapacuronium provides clinically acceptable intubating conditions in 60 s in a majority of patients with these doses, although the conditions are somewhat inferior to those obtained with succinylcholine in lightly anaesthetized patients, such as those undergoing a rapid-sequence induction. The main drawbacks of rapacuronium are the occurrence of dose-related pulmonary side-effects (increased airway pressure and/or overt bronchospasm) and hypotension and tachycardia. The cause of pulmonary side-effects is not certain but these have been serious enough to make its worldwide introduction doubtful.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine, Queen's University of Belfast, Whitla Medical Building, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK. r.mirakhur@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Mirakhur
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: McCourt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D003473:Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D014673:Vecuronium Bromide / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003473:Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents; D014673:Vecuronium Bromide; C082938:rapacuronium