We have assessed the incidence of pain on injection of rocuronium and evalu
ated if pretreatment with lidocaine i.v. reduced it, in a randomized, contr
olled study in 90 patients. We found that 37% of patients who received lido
caine 10 mg pretreatment had pain on injection of rocuronium compared with
77% of patients who received saline pretreatment and 7% of patients who wer
e pretreated with lidocaine 30 mg (P<0.05 in each instance compared with co
ntrol). In addition, patients pretreated with lidocaine were less likely to
suffer moderate or severe pain. Both lidocaine 10 mg and 30 mg i.v. given
before administration of rocuronium significantly reduced the incidence and
severity of pain on injection of rocuronium, and the higher dose was more
effective.