Pretreatment with Labetalol Reduces Propofol Injection Pain

Abstract

A prospective randomized study was performed for 108 Sudanese patients in Khartoum Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Soba University Hospital (SUH) in the period from 1st of April to end of September 2002. All patients were selected according to the grading of the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) (grade I or II), their ages were between 18 – 60 years old. The study aimed at reducing the incidence of Propofol injection pain by using Labetalol as a pre-treatment. Data was collected using self-structured questionnaire. It was found that there was a significant reduction in Propofol injection pain by using Labetalol as pre-treatment in different doses (5mg-10mg). It was also found that the size of the cannula affects the incidence of pain i.e. the larger the size of the cannula the lower the incidence of pain. It is concluded that the incidence of Propofol injection pain is reduced significantly by using Labetalol as a pre-treatment and cannula of large size.