EFFECTS OF PROPOFOL ON CARDIOVASCULAR DYNAMICS, MYOCARDIAL BLOOD FLOW AND MYOCARDIAL METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Propofol (ICI 35 868) is a rapidly acting i.v. anaesthetic, the clinical use of which was first described by Kay and Roily (1977). Once it became evident that, in its original Cremophor EL-formulation, the drug was associated with the risk of hypersensitivity reactions (Briggs, Clark and Watkins, 1982), it was reformulated in a soya bean emulsion. Studies with this new emulsion formulation indicated that the haemodynamic effects were similar to those observed in association with the original Cremophor formulation (Glen and Hunter, 1984). In patients without heart disease, propofol has been shown to produce significant decreases in systolic, diastolic and mean arteria