Comparison of Cardiovascular Response during Induction of General Anaesthesia Using Etomidate Versus Using Propofol under Bispectral Index Guidance in a Tertiary Care Medical College, Dibrugarh

BACKGROUND The present study was done to compare the cardiovascular responses of etomidate and propofol as induction agents of general anaesthesia under Bispectral index (BIS) guidance and evaluate the effect of intravenous induction agent etomidate and propofol on the variation in heart rate and blood pressure during induction of general anaesthesia. METHODS This is a prospective randomized and double blinded comparative study done in Assam Medical College and Hospital on patients scheduled for elective surgeries under general anaesthesia from June 2019 to May 2020. 80 patients were randomly allocated to group E (etomidate group) and group P (propofol group) of 40 each. All patients were pre-medicated with fentanyl 2 microgram / kg intravenously. Group E received etomidate infusion at 0.05 mg / kg / min and group P received propofol infusion at 0.5 mg / kg / min until Bispectral index value dropped to 60. Patients were intubated with vecuronium 0.1 mg / kg and maintenance of anaesthesia was continued according to institutional protocol. At the end of anaesthetic period, extubation was done after acceptable recovery. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded in both the groups until 10 minutes of induction. RESULTS Statistically significant fall in heart rate was seen in group P than that of group E starting from 3 minutes of induction up to 10 minutes with P value < 0.05 and statistically significant fall in systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was seen in propofol group from that of etomidate group starting from 1 minute of induction up to 10 minutes was seen. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that etomidate is haemodynamically more stable than propofol during the time of induction of anaesthesia. KEY WORDS Etomidate, Propofol, Bispectral Index