Propofol

Propofol is the active component of an intravenous anesthetic used for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia. Propofol was approved under the brand name Diprivan. Many generic versions have since been released. Intravenous administration is used to induce unconsciousness, after which anesthesia may be maintained using a combination of medications. Propofol is manufactured as part of a sterile injectable emulsion using soybean oil and lecithin, which gives it a white milky color. Compared to other anesthetics, recovery from propofol-induced anesthesia is generally quick and infrequently associated with such side effects as drowsiness, nausea, vomiting. Propofol may be used before diagnostic procedures requiring anesthesia, in the management of refractory status epilepticus, and for induction or maintenance of anesthesia before and during surgery. It may be administered as a bolus or an infusion, or as a combination of the two. First synthesized in 1973 by John B. Glen, a British veterinary anesthesiologist working for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI, later AstraZeneca), propofol was introduced for therapeutic use as a lipid emulsion in the United Kingdom and New Zealand in 1986. Propofol (Diprivan) received FDA approval in October 1989. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.