COMPARISON OF EFFECT OF PROPOFOL AND ETOMIDATE ON HEMODYNAMIC PARAMETERS AND SEIZURE DURATION DURING ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY

Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) is the mainstay of treatment for many psychiatric disorders. ECT requires Anaesthesia to control of hemodynamic changes and related complications along with primary requirements of amnesia and muscle relaxation. Anaesthesia has a significant influence on clinical efficacy and tolerability of ECT through impact on electrophysiological variables and seizure parameters. Therefore, its an on going process of searching drug of choice for ECT anaesthesia.

The study was conducted in 120 patients posted for ECT to compare drugs etomidate and propofol and their impact on various hemodynamic parameters like heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure and seizure duration and recovery time and advertise effects.

The study concluded with separate advantages of both drugs over one another when study parameters were individualised.

Propofol has stable hemodynamic paramters and rapid recovery in comparison to etomidate whereas etomidate had longer duration of seizures and can provide better clinical efficacy than propofol. Etomidate however was associated with myoclonic jerks. Considering all the study parameters it is difficult to state the ideal drug for ECT. However, propofol seems to be a better anaesthetic agent for ECT than etomidate on considering the study parameters.