Comparative evaluation of induction characteristics of Propofol and Etomidate during general anaesthesia

Introduction: In general anaesthesia, induction of patients with intravenous anaesthetic agents is a common practice. Induction is a very crucial time as at this time the patient is liable to undergo sudden unexpected haemodynamic changes due to the exaggerated physiological effects of the induction agents. Anaesthetist all the time needs to choose an agent with least adverse effects for the safety of the patient. Aim and Objective: In this study, our objective was to observe the effects of propofol and etomidate on the haemodynamics during induction of general anaesthesia. Materials and Method: The study included 60 ASA Grade I and II patients aged between 18 and 60 years who were given general anaesthesia for elective surgery. The patients were allocated to two groups randomly with 30 patients in each group. Patients induced with propofol 2mg/kg were assigned to Group P and those induced with etomidate 0.3 mg/kg were assigned to Group E. The groups were compared for the changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP)* The data collected was statistically analysed using the computer software SPSS. A “p” value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant. Observation and Results: It was observed that in Group P after induction with the study drug there was a significant decrease in the haemodynamic parameters – systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) as compared to the parameters before induction (p ≤ 0.05). On the other hand in Group E the post induction values of haemodynamic parameters were not statistically different than the values before induction (p ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: Thus from our study, we came to the conclusion that etomidate when used for induction of general anaesthesia offers greater stability of haemodynamics than propofol and hence can be preferred as the agent of choice for induction of patients and especially more so for those with cardiac disease in whom stable haemodynamics are all the more important.