Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Pharmacological Effects of Propofol

Propofol is a comparatively new intravenous anesthetic drug. We measured the concentration of propofol in the plasma of both the arterial blood and the venous blood using highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in 12 patients who underwent propofol anesthesia. The pharmacokinetic behavior of propofol concentration in the venous blood was similar to that in the arterial blood. Both concentrations reflected the pharmacological effects based on the changes in several monitoring values (blood pressure, the pulse, Sjo 2, SEP). The monitoring of intravenous anesthetic drugs are done using arterial blood. Using this method we can therefore easily monitor propofol which is recently being used for sedation by collecting venous blood samples.