title: Clinical recovery and psychomotor function after brief anesthesia with propofol or thiopental.
abstract: Propofol, the new intravenous anesthetic agent, is generally used in outpatient anesthesia with expectations of fast recovery. We assessed recovery from anesthesia in a double-blind, crossover, controlled manner in 12 healthy volunteers using clinical tests during the first hour and several psychomotor tests 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 7 h after brief anesthesia with propofol (2.5 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg 3 min later) or thiopental (5.0 mg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg 3 min later). Subjects were able to respond to command, sit, and stand steadily significantly faster (P less than 0.05) after propofol (time until standing steadily 33 +/- 7 min; mean +/- SD) when compared to thiopental anesthesia (time until standing steadily 62 +/- 29 min; mean +/- SD). Psychomotor performance remained significantly worse (P less than 0.05 to P less than 0.001) compared to control for 1 h after propofol and for 5 h after thiopental anesthesia. We conclude that the rapid and complete recovery makes propofol a suitable anesthetic for patients undergoing brief ambulatory surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Korttila
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Nuotto
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lichtor
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Ostman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Apfelbaum
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rupani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000762:Anesthesia Recovery Period; D003201:Computers; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005425:Flicker Fusion / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D015742:Propofol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D013874:Thiopental / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013874:Thiopental; D015742:Propofol