Introduction: Endotracheal intubation is an integral part of administration of anaesthesia during surgical procedures. Administration of muscle relaxants facilitates endotracheal intubation. Various drugs and techniques have been used to facilitate rapid endotracheal intubation during emergency surgical procedures and in critically ill patients.Rocuronium and Suxamethonium are two such drugs. Aim of Study: To compare the intubating conditions of Rocuronium with Suxamethonium at 60 seconds in emergency surgeries following rapid sequence intubation. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective comparative study carried out at DurgabaiDeshmukh Hospital and Research Centre, Hyderabad, over a period of 10 months, from September 2011 to June 2012. The subjects were 80 adult patients divided into two groups of 40 each. Group R received Rocuronium and Group S received Suxamethonium. The subjects were studied forscoring response to intubation, jaw relaxation, vocal cord position and hemodynamic responses and adverse effects to the drugs. Results: Rocuronium at a dose of 0.6mg/kg produced acceptable intubating conditions as that of Suxamethonium 1.5mg/kg. There was no statistical significance between the groups in jaw relaxation response to intubation and in grading of intubating conditions. Mean arterial pressure and heart rate were slightly higher in group R compared to that of group S statistically not significant. Group R had a few adverse effects which were insignificant. Conclusion: Both Rocuronium and Suxamethonium produced good intubating conditions for rapid sequence intubation. Rocuronium (0.6 mg/kg) has acomparable hemodynamic profile to Suxamethonium. Rocuroniumis safe and has less adverse effects. It can be used as a safe alternative to Suxamethonium, when the latter is contraindicated.

Keywords: Rocuronium; Suxamethonium; Rapid Sequence Intubation; Hemodynamics.