[Pharmacokinetics of continuous infusion of etomidate in cirrhotic patients]. / Pharmacocinétique de l'étomidate en perfusion continue chez le patient cirrhotique.

The pharmacokinetics of etomidate were studied in 9 control subjects (with normal liver function) and in 5 patients with cirrhosis scheduled for gastro-intestinal surgery. Anaesthetic induction included an initial bolus of etomidate 0.3 mg.kg-1, together with fentanyl 2 micrograms.kg-1, and pancuronium 60 micrograms.kg-1. An etomidate infusion was then started according to one of two following schemes: a (0.03 mg.kg-1.min-1 for 10 min, and then 0.01 mg.kg-1.min-1), or B (0.1 mg.kg-1.min-1 for 10 min, followed by 0.02 mg.kg-1.min-1 for a further 110 min, and 0.01 mg.kg-1.min-1 thereafter). Plasma concentrations of etomidate were determined at regular intervals throughout anaesthesia, and up to four hours afterwards, using inverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography. The infusion was given for 273 +/- 87 min in controls, and for 259 +/- 56 min in the cirrhotic group. Scheme A, only used in 3 controls and 1 cirrhotic in a preliminary study, resulted in very low plasma concentrations: 0.2 to 0.4 micrograms.ml-1. Those measured during the apparent plateau phase (steady state) of infusion protocol B were close to predicted values (0.5 to 0.6 micrograms.ml-1) in controls, whereas higher concentrations (approximately 1.5 micrograms.ml-1) were reached in cirrhotic patients. For all the patients the time interval to spontaneous recovery was 41 +/- 27 min; plasma levels were then 0.199 +/- 0.092 micrograms.ml-1. There were significant alterations in pharmacokinetic parameters in the cirrhotic patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Ambulatory anesthesia and induced abortion. Comparative study of propofol-alfentanyl and ketamine-midazolam combinations]. / Anesthésie ambulatoire et interruption volontaire de grossesse. Etude comparative des associations propofol-alfentanil et kétamine-midazolam.

The use of propofol alone or with alfentanil in the day-case anaesthesia for abortion was compared with that of ketamine with midazolam. Two hundred young women were assigned to two successive series of two groups each. The four groups were: group 1 (2 mg . kg-1 propofol only); group II (0.5 mg . kg-1 ketamine with 0.25 mg . kg-1 midazolam); group III (2 mg . kg-1 propofol with 4 micrograms . kg-1 alfentanil); group IV (1 mg . kg-1 ketamine with 0.1 mg . kg-1 midazolam). All the patients were premedicated one hour before anaesthesia with 0.25 mg . kg-1 midazolam orally. All the patients were asleep at the end of the propofol injection (60 s), and 10 to 15 s later for the ketamine-midazolam groups. The haemodynamic parameters did not vary much during induction with ketamine-midazolam. In the propofol groups, the heart rate remained steady, with an 8 to 12% fall in blood pressure. A fall of the mandible was seen in 40 and 84% of the patients in the propofol groups, with a short apnoea in 32 and 48% of these same patients. Clinical recovery was very quick, less than 12 min for all groups. The four psychomotor and sensory tests were carried out at the 30th min by 95% of the patients in the propofol groups, whereas only 50% of those in the ketamine-midazolam groups did so. Speed and quality were significantly better in the propofol groups. The most frequent adverse effect of propofol was pain during injection in 32 and 14% of patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)