ABSTRACT
Having illustrated the importance of extending surgical treatment into day hospital situations, the paper underlines the need for anesthetics with short-term effects. Two groups of 30 patients were included in the study and underwent anesthesia in day hospital using Propofol or Tiopentone-Enflurane. The results reveal comparable respiratory and hemodynamic effects for the two techniques, but Propofol is more reliable in terms of the lesser side-effects caused and above all the speed of the patient's psycho-physical recovery.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Surgical Procedures , Anesthesia, General , Anesthesia, Intravenous , Propofol , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Anesthesia Recovery Period , Enflurane , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , ThiopentalABSTRACT
The paper evaluates the level of analgesic protection by assaying cortisol and prolactin levels in two groups of 20 patients each undergoing general anesthesia using two different techniques: TIVA with propofol and fentanyl, and BPN-nitrous oxide. The results showed that TIVA caused a very slight increase in residue cortisol which was, however, within normal limits. With BPN-nitrous oxide anesthesia there was a greater increase in cortisol, reaching a statistically significant level in blood collected one hour after the end of surgery. With regard to prolactin, there was a marked increase in this hormone using both techniques although in percentage terms this increase was lower in TIVA. These results show that plasma prolactin is a more sensitive test than cortisol assay in evaluating antalgic protection and that, of the two anesthetic techniques used, the most protective appears to be TIVA with propofol and fentanyl.