Thiopentone-nitrous oxide-halothane anaesthesia and suxamethonium: pretreatment with pancuronium and gallamine

Eighty healthy adult patients randomly allocated to four groups received pancuronium 0.01, 0.015, 0.02 mg kg-1 or gallamine 0.3 mg kg-1 i.v. 3 min before induction. Just before induction of anaesthesia, the patients were examined for signs and symptoms of neuromuscular blockade. After induction of anaesthesia with thiopentone, suxamethonium 1.5 mg kg-1 was administered i.v. Five minutes later the second dose was injected. No serious arrhythmia was seen in any of the four groups following the repeated dose of suxamethonium. However, the highest dose of pancuronium (0.02 mg kg-1) caused an unacceptably high frequency of partial neuromuscular blockade.