Recovery from total intravenous anaesthesia. Propofol versus midazolam-flumazenil

The aim of this study was to compare recovery assessed with the Newman, deletion af a's and postbox tests after total intravenous anaesthsia for procedures lasting more than 90 min, with either propofol (PPF) or midazolam (MDZ), reversed or not by flumazenil (FMZ). Thirty patients scheduled for peripheral surgery were randomly allocated to 3 groups of 10, receiving by continuous infusion until the end of surgery either PPF (n = 10) or MDZ (n = 20) combined with alfentanil. FMZ was administered thereafter to 10 patients receiving MDZ until they opened their eyes on command or to a maximum dose of 1 mg. Recovery tests were performed 45, 90 and 180 min after the end of anaesthesia. Results were analysed with non-parametric tests. Recovery scores were significantly better in the PPF group at all times, reaching control values at 180 min for the three first tests. FMZ reversal did not improve the scores compared to those resulting from MDZ alone. This study provides further data in favour of PPF as far as rapid and complete recovery is concerned. The efficiency of FMZ is incomplete and only transient when administered in a single dose.