[Chlormetiazole in anaesthesia (author's transl)].

The use of a vitamin derivate (chlormethiazole) in anaesthesia. Owing to its hypnotic properties and its wide margin of safety, "chlormethiazole" (a derivate of vitamin B1) was used in 30 patients which underwent varying surgical procedures. Since the drug exhibits no analgetic effect, fentanyl was added to maintain a sufficient depth of anesthesia. The patients were artificially ventilated with N2O/O2 at a rate of 3/1. Chlormethiazole, even when used in large doses (2400 mg) over a long period of time (5 hours was well tolerated. The technique therefore offers another opportunity to replace droperidol in classical neuroleptanaesthesia, which is often the cause for uncomfortable neurovegetative side-effects in the post-operative period.