The main clinical use of the neuromuscular blocking agents is an adjuvant in surgical anaesthesia to obtain relaxation of skeletal muscle, particularly of the abdominal wall, to facilitate surgical manipulations. Rocuronium can be used instead of suxamethonium to provide rapid muscle paralysis during tracheal intubation but the recovery is much slower. Rocuronium is administered intravenously to infants and children. In infants, rocuronium is administered at a dose of 450 µg/kg for providing muscle relaxation for laryngeal intubation. To provide sustained paralysis, rocuronium is given at a dose of 600 µg/kg. In children, the neuromuscular blockade is obtained with 600 µg/kg followed by an intravenous infusion of 150 µg/kg per hour. For assisted ventilation in intensive care, rocuronium is administered at a dose of 600 µg/kg followed by an intravenous infusion of 300 to 600 µg/kg per hour. The effects of rocuronium have been extensively studied in infants and children. Rocuronium is converted into 17-desacetyl rocuronium. The pharmacokinetics of rocuronium have been studied in infants and children and the mean residence time is 55.6 and 25.6 min (P-value < 0.01) in infant and children, respectively. Rocuronium interacts with drugs, the treatment of infants and children with rocuronium has been studied, and rocuronium poorly crosses the human placenta. The aim of this study is to review the published data on rocuronium dosing, pharmacokinetics, and treatment in infants and children, and rocuronium metabolism and transfer across the human placenta.
Neuromuscular blocking drugs in infants and children
