Suxamethonium pains

I should like to report the results of a short study on the incidence of suxamethonium muscle pains in patients undergoing general surgery at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. in view of the beneficial effect of thiopentone given immediately before suxamethonium1 i t was proposed that ‘sandwiching’ the suxamethonium between two doses of thiopentone might lessen the incidence of subsequent muscle pain. To test this hypothesis 82 patients were studied in three groups, none of which differed significantly in age, sex, physical fitness or day of ambulation, all factors believed to affect suxamethonium muscle pain. Groups 2 and 3 only received suxamethonium and in Group 3 the second dose of thiopentone was 4 to # the size of the first which was a full sleep dose. The incidence of muscle pain found was: No in group :d with pain Group 1 Control 25 5