A molecule of rocuronium
A syringe of rocuronium. The bright red/orange color of the label signifies that it is a neuromuscular blocking agent.
Yay for the first NMB I saw in person. When I volunteered at the hospital before college, I got to work cleaning up the operating rooms after surgery, and the nurse anesthetists would sometimes leave their drugs out for the next patient. On my first day volunteering, in fact, in the first operating room I was called to clean up, I saw a vial of rocuronium left out on the drug cart. That was a happy day.
I've heard it pronounced both "raw" and "roh"-curonium. According to most drug information websites, "roh"-curonium is correct, even though rocuronium stands for "rapid onset" curonium, and "onset" has an "aw" sound. I've always pronounced it "roh" though anyways.
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Rocuronium was approved by the FDA on March 17, 1994. It is a rapid onset intermediate duration nondepolarizing steroid structured neuromuscular blocking agent with the formula C32H53N2O4.
Many doctors consider rocuronium to be a safer alternative to succinylcholine, but SCh is still faster. As of 2012, they still use SCh. At the hospital I volunteered at, SCh for intubation and rocuronium during the surgery was the standard. They rarely used anything else.
From what I've heard, rocuronium hurts being injected into the body. I lack the personal experience to verify this. So does pancuronium, according to Carol Weihrer, who had pancuronium injected into her when she woke up during surgery.
Most vials of rocuronium have a yellow lid and a bright red label, and the rocuronium is usually at a concentration of 10 mg/mL.