Anaesthesia
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Comparative Study
Effect of propofol on seizure-like phenomena and electroencephalographic activity in children with epilepsy vs children with learning difficulties.
There is an ongoing debate as to whether propofol exhibits pro- or anticonvulsant effects, and whether it should be used in patients with epilepsy. We prospectively assessed the occurrence of seizure-like phenomena and the effects of intravenous propofol on the electroencephalogram (EEG) in 25 children with epilepsy (mean (SD) age: 101 (49) months) and 25 children with learning difficulties (mean (SD) age: 52 (40) months) undergoing elective sedation for MRI studies of the brain. No child demonstrated seizure-like phenomena of epileptic origin during and after propofol sedation. ⋯ The occurrence of beta wave activity (children with learning difficulties and epilepsy group) and suppression of spike-wave patterns (epilepsy group) were transient, and disappeared after 4 h. This study demonstrates characteristic, time-dependent EEG patterns induced by propofol in children with epilepsy and learning difficulties. Our data support the concept of propofol being a sedative-hypnotic agent with anticonvulsant properties as shown by depression of spike-wave patterns in children with epilepsy and by the absence of seizure-like phenomena of epileptic origin.