HAEMODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF A PROLONGED INFUSION OF PROPOFOL AS A SUPPLEMENT TO NITROUS OXIDE ANAESTHESIA f Studies in Association with Peripheral Arterial Surgery

In its original formulation in Cremophor EL, 2,6-diisopropylphenol proved suitable for use as a continuous infusion to supplement nitrous oxide anaesthesia (Prys-Roberts, Davies et al., 1983). 2,6-Diisopropyl phenol has now been reform-ulated as an aqueous emulsion (propofol) (Stark et al., 1985) and has been extensively re-evaluated as an induction agent (Cummings et al., 1984; Roily et al., 1985) and as a maintenance anaesthetic (Kay et al., 1985). We have shown that the minimum infusion rate (MIR) required to ablate the response to surgery in 50 % of patients was not significantly higher than for the Cremphor EL formulation. Using probit analysis the ED60 for the reformulated solution (Coates et al., 1985) wa