RECOVERY PARAMETERS AFTER SEVOFLURANE AND ISOFLURANE ANESTHESIA

We compared recovery times in patients with American Society of Anesth esiologists physical status 1-III receiving sevoflurane or isoflurane during surgical procedures longer than 1 hour in duration. Of the 50 p atients enrolled, 23 received sevoflurane and 27 received isoflurane. Anesthetic gases were discontinued abruptly at the end of the surgical procedure. The following parameters were recorded: time to emergence (opens eyes), time to extubation, response to verbal command (squeezes hand of observer), and orientation (time and place). Exposure times t o the agents were similar. The time to emergence was significantly les s with sevoflurane than with isoflurane (5.6 vs 11.2 min, respectively ). There were no significant differences in time to extubation, respon se to verbal command, or orientation between the groups. Our data supp ort more rapid emergence with sevoflurane than with isoflurane in surg ical procedures longer than 1 hour in duration.