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Atracurio Vs Cisatracurio
Atracurio Vs Cisatracurio
Leanne Moore PharmD, Charles Joseph Kramer PharmD, Sophie Delcoix-Lopes MSc, and
Ariel M Modrykamien MD
collect these data, documentation from ventilator checks Table 1. Cause of ARDS Among Included Subjects
routinely performed by respiratory therapists was exam-
Etiology Cisatracurium Atracurium P
ined. Average daily values of tidal volumes and plateau
pressures were obtained throughout the entire time receiv- Bacterial pneumonia 34 (58) 8 (44) .41
ing mechanical ventilation. Furthermore, modes of me- Non-pulmonary sepsis 4 (7) 3 (17) .34
chanical ventilation were collected. Viral pneumonia 4 (7) 0 (0) .56
To report dosage of sedation therapy, all sedatives were Fungal pneumonia 4 (7) 1 (6) ⬎.99
Drug-induced ARDS 1 (2) 2 (11) .14
calculated as midazolam dose equivalents based on previ-
Pancreatitis 1 (2) 0 (0) ⬎.99
ously described formulas. Specifically, for propofol, total
Interstitial lung disease 2 (3) 0 (0) ⬎.99
dose divided by 43 represented the equivalent total mida- Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage 1 (2) 0 (0) ⬎.99
zolam dose.15 The aforementioned dose, divided by num- Radiation therapy 1 (2) 0 (0) ⬎.99
ber of days receiving NMBAs represented the daily dose. Not identified 6 (10) 4 (22) .23
Furthermore, daily dose was normalized based on dosing Total 58 (100) 18 (100)
weight (actual body weight). The same process was fol-
Results are n (%).
lowed to calculate midazolam equivalents from lorazepam.
In this case, total lorazepam equivalents multiplied by 2
represented the total midazolam equivalent dose.16 All pa-
tients used fentanyl as preferred analgesia, so no conver-
fol dose/24 h, weight-adjusted midazolam equivalents,
sion was needed. Subjects were divided into 2 groups
weight-adjusted total daily dose of fentanyl and NMBAs,
based on the drug utilized for neuromuscular blockage:
stay receiving NMBAs, and time (minutes) elapsed from
one group composed of ARDS subjects paralyzed with a
ARDS diagnosis to initiation of neuromuscular paraly-
continuous dose of cisatracurium; another group composed
sis. Those variables do not satisfy the normality as-
of subjects paralyzed with a continuous dose of atracu-
sumptions, which is required for the parametric test.
rium. The allocation to one group or the other was based
Statistical analysis was performed with the SAS Enter-
on availability of medication. Subjects were treated with
prise Guide statistical package 6.1 (SAS Institute, Cary,
cisatracurium as the first choice. In situations in which
North Carolina).
there was a shortage of cisatracurium, subjects were treated
with atracurium. Train-of-four monitoring of ulnar or fa-
cial nerves was used for NMBA titration. Train-of-four of Results
2 of 4 initial twitches was considered appropriate paraly-
sis. Clinical outcomes were compared between both Over the study period, 510 patients were diagnosed
groups. The primary outcome of the study was improve- with ARDS and treated with NMBAs based on the ad-
ment in oxygenation, defined as the difference of PaO2/ ministrative database. Of these patients, 434 (85%) were
FIO2 at 72 h post-initiation of NMBAs and its baseline excluded. Within the excluded patients, 213 (49%) did
(at initiation). Secondary outcomes were ventilator-free not fulfill the diagnosis of ARDS after further assess-
days at day 28, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, and ment. Seventy-eight of the patients (18%) changed ad-
hospital mortality. Furthermore, costs of NMBA ther- vance directives toward comfort measures. Sixty-one
apy per subject were calculated. To assess costs, the patients (14%) were treated with extracorporeal mem-
average wholesale price of cisatracurium (vial 200 mg/ brane oxygenation therapy, and 56 (13%) lacked infor-
20 mL) and atracurium (vial 100 mg/10 mL) were uti- mation to pursue further analysis. Twenty-two patients
lized. Total amounts of NMBAs per subject (in mg) (5%) had chronic liver disease, and 4 (1%) had severe
were calculated and multiplied by average wholesale systolic heart failure. Consequently, only 76 ARDS pa-
prices. tients treated with NMBAs fulfilled the inclusion crite-
ria. Eighteen and 58 subjects were included in the atracu-
Statistics rium and cisatracurium groups, respectively. Table 1 shows
causes of ARDS among all subjects included in the study.
Categorical variables were compared between groups Table 2 reveals a comparison of demographic and clinical
using the Fisher exact test. Student’s t test was used to information between the atracurium and cisatracurium
compare normally distributed continuous variables, such groups. Of note, of 76 subjects included in the study, only
as age, body mass index, and APACHE II scores. A 45 (59%) had brain function monitoring during neuromus-
non-parametric test, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, was cular blockage. Specifically, these subjects were moni-
used for hospital length of stay, ICU length of stay, tored with SedLine brain function monitoring (Masimo,
ventilator-free days, paralytic length of treatment, av- Irvine, California), which provides 4 simultaneous elec-
erage fentanyl dose/24 h, average midazolam and propo- troencephalography channels to enable continuous assess-
jects were randomized to a 48-h infusion of cisatracurium ents important financial implications for health-care orga-
versus placebo, and the primary outcome was oxygenation nizations, as reported previously16 and confirmed in the
over a 120-h time period. Interestingly, the study drug present study. Consequently, our study presents many
revealed an improvement in oxygenation at 48, 96, and strengths. First, it addresses whether the effects of NMBAs
120 h post-randomization as well as a reduction of levels in subjects with ARDS are associated with a particular
of PEEP required to achieve oxygenation. This study pre- medication or could be extrapolated to other ones. Second,
sented the first evidence of beneficial effects of NMBAs it includes subjects with severe ARDS, whose diagnoses
on physiologic outcomes. In 2006, Forel et al21 published were confirmed after reviewing case by case from an ini-
a multi-center randomized control study, which compared tial administrative database. Third, to assess clinical out-
the infusion of NMBAs versus placebo in relation to the comes accurately, many other important variables were
inflammatory response in subjects with ARDS. Briefly, as included, such as mode of mechanical ventilation, tidal
in the previously described trial, subjects were randomized volumes, plateau pressures, use of rescue therapies for
to a 48-h infusion of cisatracurium versus placebo. Pro- ARDS (ie, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, prone
inflammatory markers, such as tumor necrosis factor-␣, positioning, corticosteroids), equivalent doses of sedation
interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 were mea- and analgesia, and presence of shock. Total dose of NMBAs,
sured at baseline and 48 h later. Notably, there was a time from diagnosis to initiation of paralysis, and duration
significant reduction of pro-inflammatory markers in the of NMBAs were accounted for as well. Despite the afore-
group treated with cisatracurium. Consequently, based on mentioned strengths, many limitations were present, as
prior experiences that demonstrated physiologic and bio- well. First, the retrospective nature of the study exposes it
logic benefits, Papazian et al14 published a multi-center, to information and recall bias. By carefully reviewing ev-
double-blinded, and randomized control trial, which in- ery medical record to confirm the diagnosis of ARDS, we
cluded 340 subjects with severe ARDS. The study com- attempted to minimize this bias. Nevertheless, possible
pared the use of cisatracurium versus placebo. All subjects missing or erroneous information may be unavoidable in
were sedated, titrating the Ramsay sedation score to 6 (no this type of study. Second, despite the fact that 40 – 60% of
response on glabelar tap). Muscle paralysis monitoring the subjects were managed with brain function monitoring,
was not allowed in order to maintain study blinding. As a and both groups received similar equivalent dosages of
result, cisatracurium was associated with decreased ad- sedation agents, it is unknown whether both groups were
justed 90-d mortality (31.6% vs 40.7%, P ⫽ .08). Further- balanced in terms of depth of sedation. It is possible that
more, mortality at 28 d was 23.7% in the cisatracurium despite receiving similar doses of sedatives, the effect on
group and 33.3% in the placebo group (P ⫽ .050). sedation may have been different between groups, directly
The aforementioned studies showed a clear benefit of affecting some clinical outcomes, such as ventilator-free
cisatracurium in a variety of outcomes in subjects with days or length of stay in the ICU. Third, it is possible that
severe ARDS. Nevertheless, these studies only used cisa- the small number of subjects included in the study pre-
tracurium as the study drug. Therefore, it is unknown cludes the detection of statistically significant differences
whether the effectiveness is cisatracurium-specific or could due to lack of power. Last, possible adverse effects asso-
be extrapolated to other NMBAs. ciated with laudanosine accumulation or histamine release
This question becomes particularly relevant because in the atracurium group, such as seizures, hypotension, or
some health-care facilities may not include cisatracurium tachycardia, were not collected.
in their formulary or may undergo a cisatracurium short- In summary, our study is the first one to compare effects
age at times. Additionally, the selection of NMBAs pres- on clinical outcomes between 2 NMBAs in subjects diag-
nosed with early ARDS. No differences in terms of im- 9. Meduri GU, Marik PE, Chrousos GP, Pastores SM, Arlt W, Bei-
provement of oxygenation, ventilator-free days, ICU or shuizen A, et al. Steroid treatment in ARDS: a critical appraisal of
the ARDS network trial and the recent literature. Intensive Care Med
hospital lengths of stay, or hospital mortality were found. 2008;34(1):61-69.
Nevertheless, significant differences in costs were found. 10. Stenlake JB, Waigh RD, Urwin J, Dewar GH, Coker GG. Atracu-
Further prospective studies analyzing impact on clinical rium: conception and inception. Br J Anaesth. 1983;55(Suppl 1):3S–
outcomes and cost-effectiveness/cost-utilization will be 10S.
needed to assess whether the proven effect of cisatracu- 11. Dear GJ, Harrelson JC, Jones AE, Johnson TE, Pleasance S. Iden-
tification of urinary and biliary conjugated metabolites of the neu-
rium can be extrapolated to other NMBAs. romuscular blocker 51W89 by liquid chromatography/mass spec-
trometry. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 1995;9(14):1457-1464.
12. Fodale V, Santamaria LB. Laudanosine, an atracurium and cisatra-
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