Vecuronium in patients with and without renal failure

Fifteen patients with and ten patients without renal failure (RF) were given vecuronium as the sole muscle relaxant during anaesthesia. RF patients were divided into two subgroups according to the daily diuresis (RF I, below 0.5 l/d; RF II, over 0.5 l/d). Vecuronium was given in small doses until the electromyographic twitch response showed 90% relaxation. The results showed great individual variations, and there were no statistically significant differences between the study groups in the parameters studied (ED90 dose, total consumption of the drug in mg kg-1 min-1, vecuronium plasma concentrations, twitch response) during induction and anaesthesia. After reversal of relaxation, the twitch response recovered more slowly in the RF I group than in the others (P less than 0.05). No complications occurred and it is confirmed that it is safe to use vecuronium as a muscle relaxant in patients with RF.