Induction and recovery characteristics of desflurane in day case patients: a comparison with propofol

Desflurane is an ether halogenated exclusively with fluorine. It has a blood/gas partition coefficient of 0.42 (cf. isoflurane 1.40 and nitrous oxide 0.46). This characteristic suggests that it should provide both a fast induction of anaesthesia and a rapid recovery from anaesthesia. To assess this, 60 patients were entered into a study and allocated at random to one of four groups receiving either desflurane or propofol for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. Desflurane caused loss of consciousness in approximately 2 minutes during gaseous inductions. The psychomotor scores in the patients who received propofol for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia were significantly worse compared with those who were given desflurane for either induction and maintenance or for maintenance only. There was also a tendency for other recovery parameters to be faster in the patients receiving desflurane although this did not reach statistical significance. This suggests that desflurane would be a suitable agent for day case anaesthesia providing for a rapid recovery.