The twitch responses evoked from the abductor hallucis muscle (AHM) and the adductor pollicis muscle (APM) were examined simultaneously
in 20 anesthetized patients following a single bolus intravenous administration of 0.04 mg·kg
−1 of vecuronium bromide. The mean onset time of vecuronium-induced depression of AHM twitch responses was significantly slower
than that of APM twitch responses (4.9±1.5 min
vs 3.7±1.2 min, mean±SD,
P<0.001), and when the clinical duration times of vecuronium were compared, AHM twitch responses recovered more quickly than
APM twitch responses (15.3±4.1 min
vs 19.6±6.7 min,
P<0.01), although there was no statistically significant difference in the spontaneous recovery time between AHM and APM (9.8±2.9
min
vs 10.0±3.6 min). It is concluded that the twitch responses of AHM may be a useful monitor of neuromuscular blockade in anesthetized
patients in whom setting the blockade monitor on the patient's arms is difficult, although monitoring of twitch response of
AHM is less sensitive than that of APM in case of vecuronium administration.
Key words Abductor hallucis muscle - Adductor pollicis muscle - Monitoring of neuromuscular blockade - Vecuronium - Twitch response