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.