Arnaud Vincent Vanlander, Juergen Guenther Okun, Annick de Jaeger, Joél Smet, Elien De Latter, Boel De Paepe, Georges Dacremont, Birgitte Wuyts, Bert Vanheel, Peter De Paepe, Philippe Germaine Jorens, Niels Van Regenmortel, Rudy Van Coster
BACKGROUND: Propofol is a short-acting intravenous anesthetic agent. In rare conditions, a life-threatening complication known as propofol infusion syndrome can occur. The pathophysiologic mechanism is still unknown. Some studies suggested that propofol acts as uncoupling agent, others suggested that it inhibits complex I or complex IV, or causes increased oxidation of cytochrome c and cytochrome aa3, or inhibits mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism. Although the exact site of interaction is not known, most hypotheses point to the direction of the mitochondria...
February 2015: Anesthesiology