Clinical research on protective effects of propofol on ischemia / reperfusion injury of upper extremity

The protective effect of propofol on ischemia / reperfusion injury of upper extremity was studied in this paper. 30 Cases of ASA I ~ II patients were randomly divided into control group (group I) and propofol group (group II), and there were 15 cases of patients in each group. MDA and GSH contents in patients´ serum were measured to estimate the effect of propofol. The results showed that there was no significant difference in MDA and GSH contents between both groups before ischemia / reperfusion, but there were significant differences in MDA and GSH contents in the serum of both groups after ischemia / reperfusion compared with those just before the tourniquet. Moreover, serum MDA contents of patients in group II were significantly lower than those in Group I at the same times and GSH contents of patients in group II were significantly higher than those in Group I at the same times. It can be concluded that propofol, as an intravenous anesthetics, can protect the ischemia / reperfusion injury of extremity besides its anesthetic effect.