A. Villalonga et al., CARDIOVASCULAR-RESPONSE AND ANESTHETIC RECOVERY IN ELECTROCONVULSIVE-THERAPY WITH PROPOFOL OR THIOPENTAL, Convulsive therapy, 9(2), 1993, pp. 108-111
Propofol provokes a slight hypotensive effect that could mitigate the
cardiovascular response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In this st
udy we compared the effects of propofol and thiopental for ECT anesthe
sia in seven women (22-67 years of age). Anesthesia was induced with e
ither thiopental or propofol, and with atropine and suxamethonium for
each treatment. The first anesthesia was assigned to thiopental or pro
pofol at random; the next anesthesia was induced with the other drug,
and alternated thereafter. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pr
essure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) were recorded before anesthesia, aft
er anesthetic induction, and 1 and 5 min after ECT. ECT-induced increa
ses in DBP and HR were less marked with propofol than with thiopental.
Seizure durations were decreased with propofol compared with thiopent
al.