BACKGROUND: We have used thiopental sodium as an induction agent traditionally, but a recently introduced induction agent, propofol, is gaining popularity among anesthesiologists. The purpose of this study was to compare the difference in induction time by measuring the hypnotic time. METHODS: Sixty adult patients (ASA class I or II) scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia were randomly assigned to receive 5 mg/kg of thiopental (Group I) or 2 mg/kg of propofol (Group II), respectively, as an induction agent. The induction time by using Eyelash reflex (from the start of administration of induction agent to the time of reflex loss) was measured after the administration of thiopental and propofol and compared between these two groups. RESULTS: The induction time using ER in Group II (52.2 +/- 12.0 s) was not significantly longer than Group I (50.4 +/-9.4 s). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that propofol had the same induction time as thiopental for induction of general anesthesia.
Adult ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics ; Humans ; Propofol* ; Reflex ; Thiopental*

Tono-Pen was portable, miniaturized digital electronic tonometer. We compared Tono-Pen with Goldmann applanation tonometer through the mass screen studies on 634 eyes of 317 patients to evaluate the reliability of the Tono-Pen in determining intraocular pressure(IOP). We found 60% of the Tono-Pen readings to be within +/-1.5 mmHg of the Goldmann applanation tonometry readings and 85% to be within +/-2.5 mmHg difference. The correlation coefficient between the readings of the two instruments was 0.85. The Tono-Pen tonometry corresponded well to the Goldmann applanation tonometry in the 11 to 20 mmHg interval. We concluded that Tono-Pen tonometry is very useful in screening test to measure the intraocular pressure.
Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Manometry* ; Mass Screening ; Reading

No abstract available.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Sacroiliitis*