Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie
-
In a survey of American and German medical personnel, the injectable hypnotic propofol was identified as one of the most frequently abused anaesthetics. With the help of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane and internet search, data were sought that permit an assessment of propofol's risk of addiction. The clinical evaluation for hypnotics can usually be made with the scale of Griffith and Johnson. ⋯ Forensic analyses consider mainly accidental respiratory arrests to be responsible for the deaths. In summary, propofol is considered to be a primary mental addictive substance that is characteristically intravenously consumed by persons within the medical profession. Because of its apparently narrow safety margin between pleasure and death, propofol is an extraordinary hazard which, unfortunately, is only reflected insufficiently in the scale of Griffith and Johnson.