Early and late recovery after major abdominal surgery. Comparison between propofol anaesthesia with and without nitrous oxide and isoflurane anaesthesia

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Abstract
A comparison was made between early and late recovery after major abdominal surgery under intravenous anaesthesia with propofol (with and without nitrous oxide) or inhalational anaesthesia with isoflurane. Sixty patients were randomly allocated to one of three forms of anaesthesia: propofol, propofol/nitrous oxide, or isoflurane/nitrous oxide anaesthesia. All received fentanyl and vecuronium. Recovery was monitored during the first 2 h after extubation and on days 1, 2, 3, 7 and 30 after surgery. Every 30 min during the first 2 postoperative hours, the Steward recovery scale, sedation, orientation, collaboration, and comprehension were assessed by a blinded observer. Psychomotor function was evaluated by computerised simple reaction time and finger tapping speed in 32 patients. A scale of symptoms and mood check list were filled in by 35 patients on days 1, 2, 3, 7 and 30. The preoperative values for all tests were collected 1-4 days before surgery. The time between end of surgery and extubation was longer in the propofol group, but early and late recovery of psychomotor function were similar in the three groups. Patients anaesthetised with isoflurane reported more vegetative symptoms than those who received propofol (P < 0.03). The addition of nitrous oxide to propofol did not change the reported degree of symptoms. The difference in vegetative symptoms between groups was most obvious on day 7. Patients anaesthetised with propofol reported better subjective control (P < 0.02) and were more socially oriented (P < 0.05) than patients anaesthetised with isoflurane. We conclude that early recovery was similar in the three groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)