Comparison of halothane thiopental and propofol anesthesia for strabismus surgery

Day case surgery has become a widely accepted practice for many ophthalmolo gical procedures including strabismus surgery. Prompt recovery from anesthe sia and minimal postoperative morbidity are especially requested to the ane sthesiologists to deal with the high day case surgery burden. The purpose o f this study was to compare two anesthesia techniques, halothane/thiopental anesthesia and propofol anesthesia, for patients undergoing monocular stra bismus surgery. We studied the level of postoperative consciousness, nausea and vomiting, ocular pain, starting oral intake and activity in 43 patient s, ranging from 7 to 41 years of age. A scoring system was used to assess t hese parameters in the first postoperative 48 h. Although there was not a s ignificant difference in the level of ocular pain, the propofol group had l ess morbidity in terms of having a better level of consciousness and appeti te, less nausea and vomiting and enhanced activity than the halothane/thiop ental group. We conclude that propofol anesthesia has significant advantage s over halothane/thiopental anesthesia on an outpatient basis for strabismu s surgery.