Cardiovascular Response and Anesthetic Recovery in Electroconvulsive Therapy with Propofol or Thiopental

Abstract

Propofol provokes a slight hypotensive effect that could mitigate the cardiovascular response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In this study we compared the effects of propofol and thiopental for ECT anesthesia in seven women (22-67 years of age). Anesthesia was induced with either thiopental or propofol, and with atropine and suxamethonium for each treatment. The first anesthesia was assigned to thiopental or propofol at random; the next anesthesia was induced with the other drug, and alternated thereafter. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) were recorded before anesthesia, after anesthetic induction, and 1 and 5 min after ECT. ECT-induced increases in DBP and HR were less marked with propofol than with thiopental. Seizure durations were decreased with propofol compared with thiopental.