16 Facts About Propofol

Propofol, marketed as Diprivan, among other names, is a short-acting medication that results in a decreased level of consciousness and a lack of memory for events.

Propofol is believed to work at least partly via a receptor for GABA.

Propofol was discovered in 1977 and approved for use in the United States in 1989.

Propofol is used to sedate individuals who are receiving mechanical ventilation but not undergoing surgery, such as patients in the intensive care unit.

Propofol is relatively inexpensive compared to medications of similar use due to shorter ICU stay length.

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Propofol has been suggested as a sleep aid in critically ill adults in the ICU; however, the effectiveness of this medicine at replicating the mental and physical aspects of sleep for people in the ICU is not clear.

Propofol can be run through a peripheral IV or central line.

Propofol is frequently paired with fentanyl in intubated and sedated people.

Propofol has more pronounced hemodynamic effects relative to many intravenous anesthetic agents.

Propofol appears to be safe for use in porphyria, and has not been known to trigger malignant hyperpyrexia.

Propofol is reported to induce priapism in some individuals, and has been observed to suppress REM sleep stage and to worsen the poor sleep quality in some patients.

Propofol has been proposed as having several mechanisms of action, both through potentiation of GABAA receptor activity and therefore acting as a GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulator, thereby slowing the channel-closing time.

Propofol analogs have been shown to act as sodium channel blockers.

Propofol is highly protein-bound in vivo and is metabolised by conjugation in the liver.

Propofol is versatile; the drug can be given for short or prolonged sedation, as well as for general anesthesia.

Propofol emulsion is a highly opaque white fluid due to the scattering of light from the tiny oil droplets it contains: Tyndall Effect.