Postoperative muscle pains and suxamethonium.

Two matched groups of patients with Hodgkin's disease undergoing a staging laparotomy received thiopentone, pancuronium bromide or suxamethonium 1.0 mg kg-1 (group 2) to facilitate tracheal intubation. There were no differences in the sites or degree of postoperative myalgia between the groups. It is concluded that efforts to reduce the frequency of suxamethonium muscle pains in patients having major abdominal operations are not justified.