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  Background & Objectives: ECT is one of the most common methods in treatment of different types of psychological disorder. The effectiveness of this therapy has direct relation to the duration of convulsion. Knowing the rate of efficacy of anesthetic drugs over convulsion by ECT and preventing of hemodynamic complications are important. This study was conducted to compare effect of Propofol with Sodium Thiopental in the induction of anesthesia during ECT.

  Methods : The subjects of this randomized, controlled and trial study were 16 patents with psychotic disorders. These patients received Sodium Thiopental and Succinylcholine or Propofol and Succinylcholine during 72 sessions of ECT. Duration of subjective and objective convulsion and hemodynamic changes (HR and MAP) as well as side effects of anesthesia and ECT was recorded. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS.

  Results: Duration of subjective and objective convulsion was lower in Propofol taken group than Sodium Thiopental taken patients, but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.32). The variation of hemodynamic parameter was lower among Propofol taken patients.We observed significant difference between two groups regarding to increase of arterial BP’ mean after taking drugs and immediately after ECT (p=0.04). There was not significant difference from view points of prevalence of respiratory, Hemodynamic complications, nausea, vomiting and restlessness between two groups.

  Conclusion: Duration of convulsion in induction of anesthesia in ECT with Propofol and Sodium Thiopental was not different.

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Background & objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the main therapeutic technique in psychiatric diseases. The use of anesthesia for ECT is necessary. In these patients, selection of anesthesia with minimal hemodynamic changes is very important. The aim of this study was to compare the hemodynamic effects of two anesthetics including sodium thiopental and propofol in patients undergoing ECT.
Methods: This study was performed on 84 patients (50 males and 34 females) who were anesthetized for ECT in 22- Bahaman Hospital, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Initially, the hemodynamic status of patients was recorded. Then, they randomly received either sodium thiopental or propofol as an anesthetic and succinylcholine as a muscle relaxant. Hemodynamic changes, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate in the 1, 3 and 10 minutes after ECT, as well as seizure duration and recovery time were recorded. The data were analyzed by SPSS v.20 using independent t-test.
Results: the sodium thiopental group, showed the highest changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in the third minute (45%, 64% and 26% respectively). In the propofol group, the highest systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure changes were 55%, 64% and 43% respectively, at the 10th minute, but the highest pulse rate (33%) occurred in the 3rd minute. The blood pressure changes were significant between the two groups (p<0.05). The post-shock seizure duration was less with sodium thiopental, but recovery from anesthesia was shorter with propofol (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Our findings showed that in the anesthetic required for electroshock, sodium thiopental had a slightly better hemodynamic stability than propofol. Therefore, it seems appropriate to use it as an anesthetic for ECT.