title: Etomidate revisited.
abstract: The major advantage of etomidate is its lack of cardiovascular side effects. In addition, etomidate is supposed to be neuroprotective. The side effects of etomidate include adrenal suppression and myocloni. A review of the recent literature on etomidate, its clinical use, its side effects and its mechanism of action was performed. Among others, major recent advances include a new drug preparation devoid of propylene glycol and its side effects, a new pretreatment technique that may reduce the incidence of myocloni, and the identification of its site of action in the central nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anaesthesiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. ostwald@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ostwald
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Doenicke