ALFENTANIL AND PROPOFOL INFUSIONS FOR SURGERY IN THE BURNED PATIENT

We have studied combinations of alfentanil and propofol fortotal i.v. anaesthesia in 24 severely burned patients. No inhalationagents were used. After a loading dose of alfentanil 100 µgkg^–1, the intraoperative requirement was 1.24 (SEM 0.7)µg kg^–1 min^–1, and after a propofol inductiondose of 2 mg kg^–1 the maintenance rate was 100 µgkg^–1 min^–1. Initial hypotension occurred after inductionof anaesthesia, but during the operation, cardiovascular variableswere stable. After adequate antagonism of neuromuscular block,respiratory depression persisted in three patients when thetwo agents were discontinued simultaneously; this was not seenwhen alfentanil was discontinued 15 min before propofol. Qualityof recovery was good, and satisfactory postoperative analgesiawas present in the majority of patients 2 h after operation.This study indicates that total i.v. anaesthesia with a combinationof alfentanil and propofol appears to be satisfactory in burnedpatients.