Propofol in the treatment of moderate and severe head injury: a randomized, prospective double-blinded pilot trial

Object. Sedation regimens for head-injured patients are quite variable. The short-acting sedative—anesthetic agent propofol is being increasingly used in such patients, yet little is known regarding its safety and efficacy. In this multicenter double-blind trial, a titratable infusion of 2% propofol accompanied by low-dose morphine for analgesia was compared with a regimen of morphine sulfate in intubated head-injured patients. In both groups, other standard measures of controlling intracranial pressure (ICP) were also used. Methods. Forty-two patients from 11 centers were evaluated to assess both the safety and efficacy of propofol: 23 patients in the propofol group (mean time of propofol usage 95 ± 87 hours) and 19 patients in the morphine group (mean time of morphine usage 70 ± 54 hours). There was a higher incidence of poor prognostic indicators in the propofol group than in the morphine group: patient age older than 55 years (30.4% compared with 10.5%, p < 0.05), initial Glasgow Coma Scale scores of ...