Gallamine administered by combined bolus and infusion

A technique combining an intravenous bolus and intravenous infusion regimen of gallamine based on its pharmacokinetics was developed to produce continuous relaxation during surgery. The combination of a bolus dose of gallamine, 2.5 mg/kg, and infusion, 0.8 mg/kg/hr, was tested in 11 patients. In 10 patients, surgery continued long enough to allow demonstration of an apparent plateau in the serum gallamine concentrations. At the cessation of the infusion, the mean gallamine concentration of 11.8 μg/ml was associated with an average paralysis intensity of 92%. Pharmacokinetic analysis of the gallamine serum concentration-time data was fitted to a three-compartment model. In this study of 50- to 76-year-old patients, the most striking difference from other studies was that the elimination half-life averaged 247 minutes in this study whereas 128 to 141 minutes has been reported previously.