# Safety and efficacy of ciprofol for general anesthesia induction in elderly patients undergoing lumbar surgery

**Authors:** Gang Yao, Xiaochun Wei, Yu Zhong, Guofeng Liu, Yanzhuo Zhang, Yanhua Chen

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1525973 · Frontiers in Medicine · 2025-06-25

## TL;DR

This study compared ciprofol and propofol for anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing lumbar surgery, finding ciprofol to be safer with fewer cases of low blood pressure.

## Contribution

Demonstrates ciprofol's superior hemodynamic stability over propofol in elderly patients for anesthesia induction.

## Key findings

- Ciprofol showed significantly lower hypotension incidence compared to propofol (20% vs. 63%).
- Both groups had similar time to achieve target anesthetic depth and comparable adverse event rates.
- Ciprofol reduced norepinephrine consumption during anesthesia induction.

## Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ciprofol for anesthesia induction in elderly patients undergoing lumbar surgery.

Sixty patients aged 65–80 years scheduled for elective lumbar surgery under general anesthesia were randomly divided into two groups (n = 30 each): ciprofol group and propofol group. The ciprofol group received intravenous ciprofol 0.4 mg/kg combined with sufentanil 0.4 μg/kg, while the propofol group received propofol 2 mg/kg combined with sufentanil 0.4 μg/kg for anesthesia induction. Hemodynamic parameters including bispectral index (BIS), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac index (CI), pulse pressure variation (PPV), systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI), and stroke volume index were recorded during induction. Time to achieve target anesthetic depth was also evaluated. Adverse events including movement, lacrimation, hypotension, hypertension, bradycardia, and coughing during induction were documented.

Both groups showed comparable time to achieve target anesthetic depth and similar trends in hemodynamic changes. However, the ciprofol group demonstrated significantly lower incidence of hypotension compared to the propofol group (20% vs. 63%, P < 0.05), with reduced norepinephrine consumption. The incidence of other adverse events showed no significant differences between groups.

Ciprofol demonstrates comparable safety and efficacy to propofol for anesthesia induction in elderly patients undergoing lumbar surgery, with superior hemodynamic stability, supporting its clinical application in geriatric lumbar surgery.

The trial was registered, before patient enrollment, in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (www.chictr.org.cn) (Clinical trial number: ChiCTR2300069858, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=192839, principal investigator’s name: Gang Yao, date of registration: 28/03/2023).

## Linked entities

- **Chemicals:** ciprofol (PubChem CID 86301664), propofol (PubChem CID 4943), sufentanil (PubChem CID 41693), norepinephrine (PubChem CID 951)

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** bradycardia (MESH:D001919), coughing (MESH:D003371), hypertension (MESH:D006973), stroke volume (MESH:D020521), hypotension (MESH:D007022)
- **Chemicals:** Ciprofol (-), norepinephrine (MESH:D009638), sufentanil (MESH:D017409), propofol (MESH:D015742)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

3 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12238020/full.md

## References

30 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12238020/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12238020