Effect of Different Propofol Preparations on Injection Pain

Aim: Propofol is an intravenous anesthetic agent that is frequently used. However, it has a disadvantage that it causes pain during injection. This pain can be quite uncomfortable for patients. Propofol preparations containing oil emulsion at various concentrations have been produced to relieve pain. We aimed to compare the effects of preparations with different propofol concentration, lipid content and lipid chain structure Propofol 1% and Propofol 2% on injection pain and hemodynamic response.

Study Design: Prospective, randomized and single-blind study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, University Hospital, between July 2019- December 2019.

Methodology: Patients aged 18-65 years, who underwent general anesthesia for elective hysteroscopy were included. In our study, one group (Group P1) was given propofol 1% and the other group (Group P2) was given propofol 2%. The patient's pain was evaluated and recorded at the 5th, 10th and 15th seconds according to the Verbal Rating Scale (VRS).

Results: One hundred patients were evaluated. The mean pain scores of the patients were 0.24 (0-2) at the 5th second, 0.96 (0-3) at the 10th second and, 1.22 (0-3) at the 15th second in Group P1, 0.92 (0-3) at the 5th second, 1.76 (0-3) at the 10th second and, 2.00 (0-3) at the 15th second in Group P2. These values were statistically significant (P< 0.05).

Conclusions: We concluded that the approach of increasing the lipid content by increasing the propofol concentration applied in this study is not sufficient to reduce the incidence of pain, and that the fatty acid chain length, as well as the propofol concentration, are among the important factors affecting the formation of pain.