Dreaming and anaesthesia: total i.v. anaesthesia with propofol versus balanced volatile anaesthesia with enflurane.

Sixty consecutive ASA Grades I and II patients scheduled for elective ear, nose and throat surgery were randomly assigned to receive either total i.v. anaesthesia with propofol ('propofol group') or 'balanced technique' with thiopentone induction followed by N2O and enflurane. Patients were asked whether they had experienced dreams immediately after extubation when verbal communication was established, in the recovery room and in the ward on the evening of the day of surgery. Thirteen patients in the propofol group (43%) and three patients in the enflurane group (10%) reported dreaming (P less than 0.05) when asked as soon as verbal communication was established. In the recovery room and in the ward only three patients of the propofol group (10%) and one patient in the enflurane group (3%) remembered that they had been dreaming (NS). To avoid underestimating the frequency of peri-operative dreaming, post-operative interviews should take place as soon as possible after conversing is possible.