[Propofol does not induce retrograde amnesia at the hypnotic dose].

Background: We evaluated retrograde amnesic effects of propofol at the hypnotic dose on 28 healthy medical personnel volunteers (17 men, 11 women).

Methods: Explicit memory function was measured after the emergence from bolus infusion of propofol 2 mg x kg(-1); how one could answer the correct number and symbol of 5 playing cards which he had picked up randomly and intentionally memorized before induction? As control, one also took the same test during working hour without any drugs.

Results: After infusion of propofol, the rate of correct answers was 96.4 +/- 9.1% and in control, it was 92.1 +/- 18.3% (P = 0.297142). There was no significant difference among two situations.

Conclusions: These results suggest that propofol dose not induce retrograde amnesia at hypnotic dose.