Desflurane or sevoflurane for gynaecological day-case anaesthesia with spontaneous respiration?

Sixty gynaecological day-case patients were anaesthetised with either desfl urane or sevoflurane in oxygen/nitrous oxide, following intravenous inducti on. Mean end-tidal desflurane was 4.5% at 5 and 10 min post induction, wher eas mean end-tidal sevoflurane was 1.7%. There were five untoward airway ev ents (coughing, hiccoughs) in the desflurane group and three in the sevoflu rane group, including one laryngospasm. Time to eye opening and orientation following anaesthesia were significantly faster in the desflurane group (2 .8 min/4.8 min) than in the sevoflurane group (7.0 min/9.8 min; p<0.0001). Time to being ready for discharge home was also significantly earlier in th e desflurane group (3 h compared with 3.5 h). Telephone interview on the fi rst postoperative day showed that in the desflurane group 29 of 31 were ful ly returned to normal activity compared with only 15 out of 29 in the sevof lurane group (p<0.01).