• G E Kuhnle, C Hornuss, M Lenk, A P Salam, D Wiepcke, V Edelmann-Gahr, G Flake, M Daunderer, M Oberhauser, H-H Müller, and M Feuerecker.
• Clinic of Anaesthesiology, SRH Wald-Klinikum Gera GmbH, Straße des Friedens 122, 07548 Gera, Germany.
• Br J Anaesth. 2013 Jun 1;110(6):1001-9.

BackgroundPropofol is increasingly used in paediatric anaesthesia, but can be challenging to titrate accurately in this group. Mid-latency auditory-evoked potentials (MLAEPs) can be used to help titrate propofol. However, the effects of propofol on MLAEP in children are unclear. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between propofol and MLAEP in children undergoing anaesthesia.MethodsFourteen healthy children aged 4-16 yr received anaesthesia for elective surgery. Before surgery, propofol was administered in three concentrations (3, 6, 9 µg ml(-1)) through a target-controlled infusion pump using Kataria and colleagues' model. MLAEPs were recorded 5 min after having reached each target propofol concentration at each respective concentration. Additionally, venous propofol blood concentrations were assayed at each measuring time point.ResultsPropofol increased all four MLAEP peak latencies (peaks Na, Pa, Nb, P1) in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the differences in amplitudes were significantly smaller with increasing propofol target concentrations. The measured propofol plasma concentrations correlated positively with the latencies of the peaks Na, Pa, and Nb.ConclusionsPropofol affects MLAEP latencies and amplitudes in children in a dose-dependent manner. MLAEP measurement might therefore be a useful tool for monitoring depth of propofol anaesthesia in children.

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