Comparison of Depth of Anesthesia after Induction with Sodium Thiopental and Etomidate using Bispectral Index Spectrum (Bis) and Hemodynamic conditions for Uncooperative Children undergoing Dental Treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Etomidate has been used to induce anesthesia with minimal changes in hemodynamic profile in many inductions of general anesthesia. Since etomidate increases the brain activity and it seems that the patient is in higher level of consciousness, this study was designed to compare anesthetic depth of etomidate and thiopental. Material and methods: This double-blinded prospective randomized controlled trial was performed on two groups of 17 children who underwent general anesthesia. One group was induced by thiopental and another group was induced by etomidate. Depth of anesthesia by BIS, mean arterial blood pressure and oxygen saturation were measured before, immediately after and 5 minutes after intubation and the incidence of nausea and degree of agitation in the recovery room were recorded. Independent t-test, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney analyze, chi square analyzed, fisher exact test and variance analyze for repeated data were used to analyze the data (alpha=0.05). Results: Age and gender were similar between the two groups. BIS, SPO2 and mean arterial blood pressure before, immediately after and 5 minutes after intubation and the incidence of nausea and degree of agitation in recovery in the etomidate group had no significant difference with thiopental. Conclusion: Etomidate has similar depth of anesthesia and hemodynamic effects with thiopental and has no significant adverse effect in recovery time. Therefore, etomidate can be used safely as an alternative of thiopental when thiopental is not available or is not indicated for any reason.