Sevoflurane was given to 746 patients, and 752 received desflurane. Three studies included children, with average ages of 3-4 years. Adult studies included patients with average ages of 29-74 years. Average surgical durations ranged from 18 minutes to 2.9 hours, and average anesthetic durations ranged from 19 minutes to 3.1 hours. The average patient among all studies was 38 years old, had a surgical duration of 1.2 hours, and had an anesthetic duration of 1.6 hours.
No significant correlation was detected between any of the study properties and one or more measures of patient recovery from anesthesia.
Patients receiving desflurane recovered 1 to 2 minutes earlier in the OR than patients receiving sevoflurane. They were obeying commands 1.7 minutes sooner (
p < 0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-2.7 minutes), extubated 1.3 minutes sooner (
p = 0.003; 95% CI, 0.4-2.2 minutes), and oriented 1.8 minutes sooner (
p < 0.001; 95% CI, 0.7-2.9 minutes) ( Table 2 ).
We subtracted the time in minutes it took for the desflurane-treated groups to be discharged from the PACU from the time it took to discharge the sevoflurane-treated groups. No significant difference was detected in the recovery times in phase I PACU (indicates a patient:nurse ratio of 1:2 or less) or phase II (a nurse
atient ratio of 1:3 or more) ( Table 3 ). Patients receiving desflurane were discharged from phase I PACU 1.0 minute sooner to 6.6 minutes later than patients receiving sevoflurane (
p = 0.07) and were ready to be discharged to home 6.2 minutes earlier to 11.6 minutes later than patients receiving sevoflurane (ranges are the 95% CIs) (
p = 0.28).
Twenty-two studies included PONV measurements, with 691 patients receiving sevoflurane and 691 patients receiving desflurane. No significant differences were detected in early or late nausea, vomiting, or treatment ( Table 4 ).
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