The Relationship between the Measured Blood Concentration of Rocuronium in Stable Muscle Relaxation with a Closed-Loop Control and the Estimated Blood Concentration from a Pharmacokinetic Simulation

Abstract

We developed a system to adjust the rate of a continuous rocuronium (Rb) infusion to achieve 3 ≤ %T1 ≤ 10 with a closed-loop control. Samples were collected from 15 patients, and Rb blood concentrations were measured at the following time points: (1) when %T1 recovered to 3% or more after the initial Rb infusion; (2) when %T1 stabilized within the target range; (3) at the cessation of the Rb infusion; (4) 5 min after the sugammadex administration. The predicted Rb blood concentration at each time point was calculated and recorded using the pharmacokinetic parameters of Wierda et al. At time points (1), (2), and (3), the predicted blood concentrations were in good agreement with the measured values, but after the administration of sugammadex, the blood concentrations were higher than the predicted values because the Rb distributed in the tissues migrated into the blood. From the above, it was confirmed that the predicted blood concentration of Rb can be a good indicator for the automatic Rb administration control.