Introduction:

The decision to perform anesthetic induction with propofol or thiopental in obstetric patients for cesarean section is a controversial issue, with contradictory oncomes among investigations.

Objective:

To present the results published in the national and international literature about the use of propofol as an anesthetic agent in the induction of general anesthesia in elective cesarean section.

Methods:

A nonsystematic review of the bibliography was carried out, with a focus on articles in Spanish and English published, during the last ten years, in databases indexed in Infomed, such as Hinari, Ebsco, Scielo, Pubmed, Cubmed, Cocrhane, using keywords such as (inducción anestésica [anesthetic induction] OR anestesia general [general anesthesia] OR) AND (propofol OR) AND (operación cesárea [cesarean section] OR cesárea [cesarean] OR).

Development:

Articles were highlighted if they compared the results of propofol usage against thiopental and other barbiturates during anesthetic induction in terms of hemodynamic variables, adverse effects, anesthetic quality and neonatal outcomes such as physical state, neurological adaptation capacity and arterial gases.

Conclusions:

Propofol is the commonest agent for anesthetic induction in obstetric patients requiring elective caesarean section. This presents adequate maternal and fetal outcomes, as well as a lower incidence of adverse effects.

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