Intravenous general anaesthetics

Propofol is the most widely used intravenous anaesthetic. It can be used for induction or maintenance of anaesthesia.

Thiopental sodium is used for induction, but has no analgesic action. As metabolism is slow repeated doses have a cumulative effect and recovery is much slower.

Recovery from etomidate anaesthesia is rapid, and it benefits from reduced risk of hypotension compared to propofol and thiopental sodium, but its propensity to produce a high incidence of extraneous muscle movements, requires co-administration of an opioid analgesic or a short-acting benzodiazepine just before induction.