Abstract
The effect of midazolam, for induction of anaesthesia, on the glycaemic and adrenocortical responses to lower pelvic surgery in female patients has been studied and compared with a comparable group of patients receiving thiopentone. Although midazolam has been shown to obtund adrenaline and noradrenaline release to electrical or surgical stress in the rat and dog, there was no blunting of the glycaemic response to surgery in man. Plasma cortisol levels in response to surgery and anaesthesia were comparable in the two groups of patients.