Pipecuronium bromide (Arduan®) is a long-acting (45-100 min) aminosteroid-type muscle relaxant which has no cardiovascular side effects, neither causes histamine release and it is primarily excreted from the body via the liver and partially via the kidney. These properties make it the drug of choice Pipecuronium in long (≥100 min) operations and intensive care units. Currently, it is the only available long acting muscle relaxant in Hungary. Pipecuronium is also licensed and used regularly in other countries as per (www.drugs.com/international). Residual neuromuscular blockade is considered a characteristic of the long-acting muscle relaxants, which in turn could lead to postoperative respiratory complications.
Therefore, adequate reversal of pipucornium induced neuromuscular blockade is crucial as a patient safety criterion.
Neuromuscular block reversal using neostigmine has proved to be non-reliable. There is a good evidence of the risks and inadequacy of neostigmine reversal, particularly in the case of inhalational anaesthetics . Therefore, the use of a more effective and safe antagonist may offer significant advantages in the use of Pipecuronium and open a new perspective in neuromuscular blockade reversal. Sugammadex (Bridion®) is the first muscle relaxant antagonist to bind and neutralise muscle relaxants in the plasma. The cyclodextrin compound was originally developed to antagonize Rocuronium block, but it is also able to reverse the Vecuronium bromide-induced block, due to structure similarity. Sugammadex binds to Pipecuronium bromide, which also has an aminosteroid structure, and has an affinity for it that is about ten times that of Rocuronium bromide http://www.pmda.go.jp/files/000153538.pdf. Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of Sugammadex in antagonizing Rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block, but in the international literature, few clinical data are available regarding the safety of Sugammadex as a reversal agent for Pipecuronium blockade. In a previous study was found that Sugammadex also antagonizes the residual effect of Pipecuronium when neuromuscular blockade already shows signs of spontaneous recovery: two muscle twitches (moderate, so-called TOF-Count 2 block) can be elicited by Train-of-Four (TOF) stimulation. Sugammadex at a relatively low dosage (1 mg/kg) was sufficient to achieve adequate effects in patients with moderate Pipecuronium-induced blockade (TOFC2). There was no postoperative muscle weakness or recurrence encountered. It was demonstrated that 2 mg/kg sugammadex can effectively reverse Pipecuronium-induced deep neuromuscular block. In this study, was also demonstrated that neither residual nor recurreIt that muscle relaxant effects should arise after antagonizing deep Pipecuronium block with Sugammadex .
Allergic reactions may occur with the use of muscle relaxants. While Rocuronium bromide is the second most common cause anaphylactic reactions among muscle relaxants in use, which is not revealed in the case of Pipecuronium. No large case-control studies have yet been performed to investigate the safety of reversing Pipercuornium-induced blockade using Sugammadex, neither the incidence of postoperative residual neuromuscular block, nor the incidence of anaphylactic reactions post-administration.
The aim of present study is therefore to investigate the safety of Pipecuronium in comparison to Rocuronium bromide in surgical patients' population undergoing anaesthesia with sevoflurane. The study will evaluate the effective reversing ability of Sugammadex, assessing the incidence of postoperative residual neuromuscular block and the incidence of allergic reactions, nevertheless comparing different doses of sugammadex required to antagonise the effects of the two muscle relaxants.
