In a volunteer study by Eger and colleagues, times to response to
command and to orientation were longer after sevoflurane anesthesia
compared to desflurane anesthesia. Further, with increasing duration of
anesthetic exposure, the differences between the agents with respect
to these measures increased.
Recovery of response to command occurred at a mean of 11 minutes
after 2 hours of 1.25 MAC desflurane anesthesia, versus 18 minutes
after 2 hours of 1.25 MAC sevoflurane. The time to orientation (eg, the
ability to answer the questions “Where are you?” and “What is the
date?") in this same group was about 60% shorter with desflurane (13
vs 21 min).
Eger EI II et al. Anesth Analg. 1998;86:414-421.
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