Recovery after desflurane anaesthesia in the infant: comparison with isoflurane.
Author(s): Wolf AR, Lawson RA, Dryden CM, Davies FW.
Affiliation(s): Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow.
Publication date & source: 1996, Br J Anaesth. , 76(3):362-4
We have studied 20 infants, aged 2.5-8 weeks, undergoing general anaesthesia for
pyloromyotomy with either desflurane or isoflurane. Patients were anaesthetized
with equivalent 1 MAC values for age and agent. A blinded observer recorded times
to breathing, swallowing, movement, extubation and side effects after
discontinuation of the agent. Recovery times in the desflurane group were
significantly shorter than in the isoflurane group. The times to swallowing,
movement and extubation in the desflurane group were 3.89 (SD 2.4) min, 5.33
(4.95) min, 7.5 (4.53) min, respectively, and 8.82 (2.40) min, 10.73 (3.93) min,
13.45 (4.20) in the isoflurane group. In addition, postoperative apnoea was
documented in the isoflurane group but not in those infants receiving desflurane.
There was no laryngospasm after extubation in either group. We conclude that
desflurane possesses useful characteristics for recovery conditions in the infant
and may be particularly useful in the ex-premature infant prone to apnoea and
ventilatory depression.
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