Pain on injection of propofol is a comman problem. The investigators planned to evaluate the
effect of propofol-fentanyl mixture on propofol injection pain and compare it with fentanyl
pretreatment and control groups.
Following ethics committee approval, 150 ASA I,II patients (18-65 yr) undergoing general
anesthesia were enrolled to this study. Exclusion criteria were communication difficulty,
psychiatric, neurologic disorders and history of allergy. Patients were randomly assigned to
one of tree equal groups. Before the anesthesia induction, Group C (Control, n=50) and group
M (mixture, n=50) received 5 ml isotonic saline, group F (fentanyl, n=50)received 2micgr/kg
fentanyl. 10 seconds after the study drugs had been given, a standart question about the
comfort of the injection was asked to the patient. The investigators used the verbal rating
scale (VRS) for evaluation of propofol injection pain. Statistical analyses were performed
with Student's t and Fisher's exact tests; p value <0,05 was considered significant.
Demographic data was similar among the groups (table I) In group M, the number of the
patients having propofol injection pain was significantly lower compared to groups F and C
(p<0,001 for both) None of the patients in groups F and M experienced severe pain whereas 24
patients (48%) had severe pain in group C (p<0.001 for both).
This study shown that fentanyl-propofol mixture is more effective compared to both fentanyl
pretreatment and placebo in preventing propofol injection pain.