INTUBATING CONDITIONS: PROPOFOL WITH MUSCLE RELAXSANT AND PROFOFOL WITHOUT MUSCLE RELAXANT A STUDY IN TERTIARY CARE CENTRE
Authors: Chikara Anita 
Published: October 2020

Introduction:  Neuromuscular blocking drugs, particularly Succinylcholine, may cause serious side effects, but remain in clinical use to facilitate tracheal intubation due to a lack of suitable alternatives. Recent studies have suggested that propofol provides good intubating conditions without muscle relaxants, due to its relaxing action on upper air way.. A search for better and ideal intravenous induction agent has led to propofol, a 2, 6, di-isopropyl phenol which was developed following a series of investigations. Propofol reduces hypertension and tachycardia during intubation. The changes in blood pressure observed are due to both decrease in cardiac output and decrease in systemic vascular resistance. Increasing the depth of anaesthesia by administering supplementary increments of induction agent, opioids or lignocaine may improve conditions. These techniques also protect against the potentially adverse effects of tracheal intubation namely systemic, intra-cranial and intra-ocular hypertensions and tachycardia.

Material and Methods: The study comprised of 100 adult patients of ASA grade I & II of either sex belonging to the age group of 18-60 years, drawn from various surgical specialties and undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia. Thorough pre anesthetic checkup was carried out in all patients and informed consent for surgery and general anesthesia was obtained. Routine investigations were carried out in all patients. 100 patients were randomly divided into two groups of 50 patients each.

Results: Youngest patient was of 18 years in group I and 20years in group II. Eldest patient was of 59 years in group I and 60 years in group II. Maximum number of patients were in 20-30 years of age group. The pre induction mean pulse rate (base line) was 101.04±11.78 and 102.36±15.14 in group I and group II respectively. There was slight decrease in pulse rate initially after induction with mean 98.23±13.87 and 97.31±12.60 in group I and group II respectively. The pre induction mean arterial pressure (MAP) (baseline) was 91.47±7.64 and 92.45±9.21in group I and group II respectively. There was slight decrease in arterial pressure initially after induction with mean 80.48±6.29and 83.31±8.41in group I and group II respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05) from the baseline values. There was slight increase in mean arterial pressure just after intubation with mean 93.10±8.47 and 94.58±9.33 in group I and group II respectively, which was not statistically significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: In healthy adults, with normal airway, propofol 2.5mg/kg when used alone as inducing agent without the use of any neuromuscular blocking agents produced acceptable intubating conditions, when compared to propofol, 2.5mg/kg along with succinylcholine. It was also demonstrated that there was no significant cardiovascular changes when intubation was done without relaxant after induction with propofol.

Keywords: Neuromuscular blocking drugs, cardiovascular, propofol