Bradycardia and vecuronium: comparison with alcuronium during cholecystectomy

We have compared the incidence of bradycardia in two groups of patients undergoing cholecystectomy. Twenty consecutive patients were allocated randomly to receive either vecuronium (n = 8) or alcuronium (n = 12) as part of a standard anaesthetic technique. Bradycardia was defined as a heart rate less than 50 beat min-1. Five episodes of bradycardia occurred with vecuronium and none with alcuronium (P less than 0.01).