Anaesthesia for caesarean section demands a technique that provides perfect narcosis without neonatal depression. To date, no ideal induction agent has been found for obstetric anaesthesia, although thiopentone is still considered the safest. A new agent, etomidate (0,3 mg/kg) has been studied in a group of parturients who underwent elective caesarean section in the left lateral tilt position. The results obtained are compared with those from a similar series, in which the management was identical, except that anaesthesia was induced with thiopentone 3,5 mg/kg. The infants in the present series were usually extremely lively after delivery, and generally sustained respiration in a shorter time than those after thiopentone. In addition, maternal-to-fetal base excess gradients were narrower with etomidate than with thiopentone. Thus etomidate may offer some advantage over thiopentone for anaesthetic induction at elective caesarean section, and appears worthy of further trial.