• A A van den Berg, N M Honjol, T Mphanza, C J Rozario, and D Joseph.
• Department of Anaesthesia, Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1998 Jul 1;42(6):658-63.

BackgroundIsoflurane has exceeded halothane and enflurane in usage. A literature search, however, revealed no data comparing the effects on emesis, headache and restlessness of these three agents.MethodsWith hospital ethics committee approval and patient consent, a prospective, randomised, double-blind study of 556 patients undergoing ENT and eye surgery was undertaken to evaluate the effects of halothane, isoflurane and enflurane on vomiting, retching, headache and restlessness until 24 h after anaesthesia. Balanced general anaesthesia was administered comprising benzodiazepine premedication, induction with thiopentone-atracurium-morphine (ENT patients) or fentanyl (eye patients), controlled ventilation and maintenance with either halothane 0.4-0.6 vol% (n = 186), isoflurane 0.6-0.8 vol% (n = 184) or enflurane 0.8-1 vol% (n = 186) in nitrous oxide 67% and oxygen.ResultsThe three study groups were comparable, and comprised comparable subgroups having ear, nose, throat, intraocular and non-intraocular surgery. During early recovery from anaesthesia, the respective requirements for halothane, isoflurane and enflurane for analgesia (7%, 9% and 10%), frequency of emesis (6%, 8% and 8%), antiemetic requirements (1%, 1% and 2%), restlessness-pain scores and time spent in the recovery ward (27 SD 10, 31 SD 12 and 26 SD 9 min) were similar. During the ensuing 24-h postoperative period, patients who had isoflurane experienced emesis less often than those who had halothane (36% vs 46%, P < 0.025) but did so with similar frequency to those who had enflurane (46% vs 41%). Antiemetic requirements were least in those given isoflurane (isoflurane 12%, halothane and enflurane 23% each, P < 0.005), but headache and analgesic requirements were similar.ConclusionIsoflurane induces less postoperative emesis than halothane, but headache is similarly frequent after anaesthesia with any of these agents.

30 keywords...

hide…