Sedation with propofol during surgery under local blockade. Assessment of a target-controlled infusion system.

The ability of a target-controlled propofol infusion system to provide sedation for 40 patients undergoing surgery under regional blockade was assessed. Eighty-eight per cent of the total infusion time was at the desired sedation level with little oversedation. This was achieved with a median blood propofol concentration of 0.93 micrograms.ml-1. The pharmacokinetic algorithm performed as well when used for sedation as for total intravenous anaesthesia. The predicted and measured blood propofol concentrations showed a bias of -12% and a precision of 34%.