[Comparative study of the neuromuscular effects of 3 curare-like agents in children]

The authors studied the effect of three curare-like agents in 92 children anesthetised with halothane (1 to 2 p. 100). The method used was to give increasing doses of d-tubocurarine, metocurine and pancuronium bromide by injection until a block of approximately 95 p. 100 of the contraction of the thumb was obtained. This was checked by electrostimulation. Each of the three groups of children who were treated with one of the three curare-like agents were subdivided according to age and dose-response curves were obtained. The time required to recover 10 and 25 p. 100 of a control contraction was also studied. The authors conclude that from the point-of-view of activity, metocurine and pancuronium are respectively twice and five times more powerful than d-tubocurarine. The recovery time for pancuronium is twice as short as that for metocurine and d-tubocurarine. Furthermore, even though they are more resistant than adults, children recover more quickly than them. There is no difference in sensitivity in children that could be related to age, and this was so in the three curare-like agents studied. However, individual differences were more marked in neo-natal infants of less than 10 days than in other groups.