Comparison of Intubating Conditions of Two Doses of Rocuronium Bromide with Succinylcholine in Children undergoing Elective Surgeries under General Anaesthesia- A Randomised Control Trial

Introduction: Succinylcholine is a muscle relaxant of choice for paediatric intubation due to its fast onset and ultrashort duration of action but it is associated with unwanted side-effects. Rocuronium bromide can be used alternatively to avoid those unwanted side-effects because of its fast onset and intermediate duration of action.

Aim: To compare two doses of rocuronium bromide with succinylcholine in terms of intubating conditions, duration of action, haemodynamic variations, and complications to get a better alternative dose of rocuronium bromide in children undergoing elective surgeries.

Materials and Methods: The present randomised, double-blinded clinical trial study was conducted in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), Sawangi, Wardha, Maharashtra, India from January 2021 to October 2022. Ninety American Society of Anaesthesiology (ASA) Grade-I-II children of both sexes of 1-10 years age, undergoing elective surgery were equally divided into three groups. Group-R9 (n=30) and Group-R12 (n=30) received rocuronium bromide 0.9 mg/kg and 1.2 mg/kg, respectively while Group-S (n=30) received succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg. Comparative evaluation of intubating conditions was done around 60 seconds in all three groups and duration of action, haemodynamic variations, and complications were noted. All data were entered in a microsoft excel sheet and results were expressed as percentages, mean Standard Deviation (SD), chi-square test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test where the difference was considered statistically significant if the p-value <0.05 by using the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 11.0 (SPSS version 11.0).

Results: Rocuronium bromide 1.2 mg/kg and succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg provided excellent intubating conditions in 96.7% children and good intubating conditions in 3.3% children in both groups while rocuronium bromide 0.9 mg/kg provided excellent intubation conditions in 83.3% of children and good intubating conditions in 16.7% of children There was a significant difference present in intubation scores between three groups (p=0.01). The duration of action was longer with rocuronium bromide 1.2 mg/kg (38.93±4.323 min) as compared to rocuronium bromide 0.9 mg/kg (26.07±2.791 min) while it was shortest with succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg (6.00±1.74 min). Adverse effects like fasciculations were only found in children (n=30) receiving succinylcholine (p=0.01) but not in rocuronium bromide groups.

Conclusion: Rocuronium bromide 1.2 mg/kg gives the same intubating conditions as succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg with good haemodynamic stability and no side-effects but the duration of action was longer with rocuronium bromide 1.2 mg/kg as compared to rocuronium bromide 0.9 mg/kg. So, to avoid unwanted side-effects of succinylcholine in children, rocuronium bromide 1.2 mg/kg can be used as an alternative to succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg in children undergoing elective surgeries where early return of spontaneous recovery is not needed.