USE OF ATRACURIUM AND ITS REVERSAL BY ANAESTHESIOLOGISTS AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Atracurium Besylate is a non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent. The aim of this study was to determine the practice trends for the use of reversal agent after atracurium by anaesthesiologists. A structured questionnaire was designed to know the practice of anaesthesiologists using reversal agent in patients who have undergone general anaesthesia and were given the intermediate acting neuromuscular blocker atracurium. Ninety nine percent participants used atracurium as a common neuromuscular blocking agent. 83.6% used the reversal agent after atracurium in every patient whereas 16.4 % used it in selected patients. In our institution most of the anaesthesiologists use reversal agent after atracurium in every patient as it is a general belief that not using reversal will prolong the recovery time, despite the fact that the use of reversal agent is debatable all over the world. Further study should be carried out to know the practice trends of rest of the anaesthesiologists as well as to evaluate the effective recovery following the single dose or infusion of atracurium and the need of reversal agent.