A comparison of the effects of propofol and thiopentone in modified electroconvulsive therapy

Abstract

Electroconvulsive therapy has recently been applied under general anesthesia for the treatment of many psychiatric diseases as depression. In our study, we aimed to compare the induction and recovery times, duration of convulsion, arterial blood pressure and heart rate values in 10 psychiatric patients, 5 of whom were female. Electroconvulsive therapies are induced with thiopentone sodium or propofol. The recovery time was found to be 17.45 ± 1.97 minute for propofol and 24.15 ± 2.00 minute for thiopentone sodium. The mean convulsion time for propofol being 20.85 ± 2.5 second was significantly shorter than that for thiopentone sodium being 26.6 ± 2.1 second. A significant increase in arterial blood pressure after electroconvulsive therapy were recorded for both agents, yet the increase was more with thiopentone sodium. Finally, because all the patients included in our study showed a good prognosis, we believe that propofol might be beneficial for those patients who have cardiovascular problems; however concerning the effect of duration of convulsion on therapy, it was concluded that further studies must be started on a broader spectrum of patients.

Keywords

• Modified Electroconvulsive Therapy,Propofol,Thiopentone Sodium

References

1. dairies QY Hi. Rees Dl. Electroconvulsive therapy and anesthetic considerations. Anesth Analg 1986;65:1345-1356.