Pattern of change of bronchomotor tone following reversal of neuromuscular blockade. Comparison between atropine and glycopyrrolate.

Specific airways conductance (s.Gaw) was measured using the forced airflow oscillation method, to study the effect of two regimens, commonly used for the reversal of neuromuscular blockade, on bronchomotor tone. Patients who had received neuromuscular blockers and had undergone elective surgery were randomly allocated to receive neostigmine 50 microgram kg-1 given concurrently with either atropine 20 microgram kg-1 (10 patients) or glycopyrrolate 10 microgram kg-1 (10 patients). Before administration, five baseline measurements of s.Gaw were obtained and measurements were then made at intervals of 1 min for the next 10 min. At 3 min there was a significant difference in s.Gaw between the two groups, higher values being found in the atropine group. At 10 min, no significant difference was seen between the groups, although both showed a significant decrease in s.Gaw compared with baseline values (P less than 0.05).

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes