HYATROBAL AND METHADONE HYDROCHLORIDE IN PREOPERATIVE PREPARATION OF PATIENTS

In 1950, after a discussion of some of the anesthetic problems in relation to pelvic surgery, the possibility of the use of Hyatrobal (a combination of pentobarbital sodium, atropine sulfate, and scopolamine hydrobromide) and methadone hydrochloride as a substitute for pentobarbital (Nembutal) sodium, morphine, and atropine, the usual preoperative medicaments, was suggested. Since much of the pelvic surgery is done with the vaginal approach on older women we felt that reducing the lasting effects of pentobarbital sodium and morphine, as well as avoiding the respiratory depressant activity of morphine, would be beneficial. We were also interested in any reduction that could be obtained in the postoperative nausea and vomiting that follow all general anesthesias. Hyatrobal and methadone hydrochloride seemed to offer these possibilities. In a few cases in 1950, but the majority in 1951, Hyatrobal and methadone hydrochloride were used as far as possible in all the patients of one