Comprarison of recovery characteristics of desflurane and isoflurane in pediatric anesthesia

The study compares the recovery charecteristics of desflurane and isoflurane in children undergoing tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy. Forty children 4-12 year of age were studied and thirty minutes prior to the induction of anesthesia, ali patients received 0.5 mg/kg midazolam orally. They were randomly assigned to receive 1-1.5 % isoflurane (group I) and 6-7 % desflurane (group II) for maintenance of anesthesia afterpatients given 2-2.5 mg/kg propofol and 10 pg/kg alfentanyl for anesthesia induction. Before surgery, patients received 20 mg/kg paracetamol rectally for postoperative analgesia. Dexamethasone 150 pg/kg was given to reduce the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting. Administration of anesthetic agents was terminated at the end surgery. At the end of operation extubation and recovery time determined. Extubation time was defined as the time from discontinuation of anesthetics to extubation. Recovery time was measured from the time the anesthetics were discontinued until the patients achieved a score of 8 on the Aldrete score. Agitation was evaluated by using the three-point score. Extubation and recovery time were significantly faster in the desflurane group than isoflurane group (p<0.05). İncidence of agitation was similar for both groups. As a result, desflurane provides a faster recovery than isoflurane in short-term surgery on children.