[Quality of recovery after general anesthesia with isoflurane or halothane]

The quality of recovery and the time required for it were compared in two groups of 20 patients after general anaesthesia with isoflurane or halothane for elective head and neck surgery. The groups were comparable with regard to age, sex ratio, ASA physical status, type of surgery and duration of anaesthesia. After premedication with diazepam and atropine, a standard induction technique was used (thiopentone, succinylcholine), avoiding opiates and sedatives. Maintenance was assured with a mixture of 30% oxygen, 70% nitrous oxide and isoflurane or halothane. The time between the end of administration of anaesthetic drugs and eye opening was 7.15 +/- 2.9 min in the isoflurane group, and 11.0 +/- 4.7 min in the halothane group (p less than 0.01). The differences between the times for the return of spatial and temporal orientation and of mental arithmetic were not significant, though they were clinically clearly perceptible. The patients were less sleepy, livelier and less agitated in the isoflurane group in the first hour of recovery. Recovery was more rapid after general anaesthesia with isoflurane, and of better clinical quality.