Clinical Pharmacology of Rocuronium Bromide

Abstract

 The history of the development of neuromuscular blocking agents is that it was found that a nondepolarizing agent that could replace suxamethonium chloride, a depolarizing agent, for rapid onset of action. In Japan, a new aminosteroidal neuromuscular blocking agent, rocuronium bromide, has recently been introduced into clinical practice. Its advantage over other currently used nondepolarizing agents is a fast onset of action similar to suxamethonium. Regarding the duration of action, rocuronium is similar to vecuronium, so that anesthesiologists can easily switch vecuronium to rocuronium during maintenance of anesthesia. Due to a low potency and low concentration of metabolites, rocuronium metabolites are very unlikely to contribute to the muscular blocking effects of the parent compound during long continuous infusion.