Background & Objective : Regional anesthesia is a method of choice in cesarean section. But in emergency cesarean sections general anesthesia is usually preferred. On the other hand, intravenous sedative drugs used in general anesthesia induction rapidly crosses the placenta and result in fetal depression. Because of higher prevalence of general anesthesia in Iran it is reasonable to conduct more researches in this field. This study set out to compare the effects of Propofol and Thiopental-Na as induction agents on the neonatal Apgar score and maternal hemodynamic status.

  Methods: In this double blind clinical trial 60 pregnant women with ASA class I & II were studied. In a random way 30 patients received 2mg/kg Propofol and the rest of them were given 4mg/kg of Thiopental-Na. All these subjects had full term and normal fetus. Pre and post-induction status of the patients was monitored noninvasively after tracheal intubations and during 12 minutes after that. Also time intervals between induction and birth (cord clipping) and between uterus incision and birth were measured. Apgar score of neonates was evaluated through clinical examination in 1^st, 5^th, 10^th and 15^th minutes after birth. The data were analyzed in SPSS software using descriptive and analytical statistics such as T-test, chi-square and ANOVA.

 Results: Apgar score in different times (1.5,10&15 minute) had no significant difference between two groups. (In the 1^st minute Propofol was 7.1 ± 2.2 and Thiopental was 74 ± 1.8, in the 5^th minute Propofol was 9.2 ± 0.7 and Thiopental was 9.1 ± 0.9) Maximum variation of heart rate and blood pressure in two groups were not significantly different. The time intervals between induction and birth (less than 8 minutes) on the one hand and uterus incision and birth(less than 130 seconds) on the other were similar in two groups.

  Conclusions : Thiopental-Na and Propofol can be used with similar results for induction of general anesthesia in cesarean section.