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Psychomotor recovery following propofol or isoflurane anaesthesia for day‐care surgery
Author(s) -
Larsen L. E.,
Gupta A.,
Ledin T.,
Doolan M.,
Linder P.,
Lennmarken C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1992.tb03464.x
Subject(s) - propofol , medicine , isoflurane , anesthesia , psychomotor learning , alfentanil , analgesic , general anaesthesia , surgery , cognition , psychiatry
A newly developed test for the assessment of psychomotor recovery ‐ the perceptive accuracy test (PAT) ‐ is described. Seventy‐four subjects who performed the test thought that it was easy to perform and some were motivated to try it on a number of occasions. Eight persons performed the test on different days and at different periods of time; the results were consistent and reproducible. Eight more persons were then asked to do the test 4 times at 15‐min intervals; no ‘learning’ was seen with this test. A randomized, prospective study was then performed in two groups of 15 patients, undergoing arthroscopic procedures of the knee. Anaesthesia was induced with propofol and maintained with an infusion of propofol 12 mg/kg/h for the first 15 min, followed by 8 mg/kg/h subsequently in the propofol group. In the isoflurane group, anaesthesia was also induced with propofol, but isoflurane (0.5‐2%) was used to maintain anaesthesia. Alfentanil was the analgesic used in both groups of patients. Results were compared with a third group of unanaesthetised controls, who were asked to perform psychomotor tests including choice reaction time and PAT at 30‐min intervals for 2.5 h. There was a significant difference ( P <0.01) in psychomotor recovery on the PAT‐200 between the propofol group and control groups, but not in the isoflurane and control groups at 30 min. Both groups had returned to baseline values at 60 min in the PAT‐60 and PAT‐200. The choice reaction time showed no significant difference in either group 30 min after the anaesthetic. Results indicate that there is no ‘learning’ with the newly developed PAT, although this was significant with the choice reaction time. This study indicates that psychomotor recovery following isoflurane anaesthesia is quicker than that following propofol. The perceptive accuracy test appears to be a good and sensitive test for the assessment of recovery following day‐care anaesthesia.