Effects of propofol, desflurane, and sevoflurane on respiratory functions following endoscopic endonasal...

General anesthesia with intravenous or inhalation anesthetics reduces respiratory functions. We investigated the effects of propofol, desflurane, and sevoflurane on postoperative respiratory function tests.

This single-center randomized controlled study was performed in a university hospital from October 2015 to February 2017. Ninety patients scheduled for endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal pituitary surgery were randomly categorized into either of these three groups: propofol (n = 30, the Group TIVA), desflurane (n = 30, the Group D) or sevoflurane (n = 30, the Group S). We analyzed the patients before, after, and 24 h following surgery, to identify the following parameters: forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) %, forced vital capacity (FVC) %, FEV1/FVC, and arterial blood gases (ABG). Furthermore, we also recorded the intraoperative dynamic lung compliance and airway resistance values.

We did not find any significant differences in FEV1 values (primary outcome) among the groups (P = 0.336). There was a remarkable reduction in the FEV1 and FVC values in all groups postoperatively relative to the baseline (P < 0.001). The FVC, FEV1/FVC, ABG analysis, compliance, and airway resistance were similar among the groups. Intraoperative dynamic compliance values were lower at the 1st and 2nd hours than those immediately after intubation (P < 0.001).

We demonstrated that propofol, desflurane, and sevoflurane reduced FEV1 and FVC values postoperatively, without any significant differences among the drugs.