Clinical trial with lorazepam in pre-operative anxiety.

An important part of the pre-operative preparation of a patient consists in the treatment of his anxiety. One hundred eighty-two patients (varying in age from 17 to 80 years) were sedated for surgery with lorazepam. The evening before intervention, each patient received 1 tablet of lorazepam (2.5 mg) and on the day of operation (90 minutes before induction of the anesthesia), each patient received an I.M. injection of lorazepam and atropine, the dosage being adjusted to body weight. The prior administration of lorazepam usually gives very good results with only slight risk of side-effects and without unhappy recollections of the pre- and post-operative periods. Most of the patients were very calm, being well rested, conscious and capable of conversation. In our experience the sedation of anxious patients with lorazepam would seem to be a very good and safe procedure.