Anesthetic recovery after ambulatory laparoscopy: a comparison of isoflurane and alfentanil infusion.

Women undergoing ambulatory laparoscopy are known to experience a variety of minor postoperative morbidity which prolongs recovery time and delays discharge. The purpose of this study was to investigate general anesthetic recovery of ambulatory laparoscopy patients receiving two rapid-acting, but disparate, anesthetic techniques. Thirty-one ASA I and II patients between 19 and 44 years of age were randomly divided into two groups. Group I received an isoflurane-based anesthetic, and Group II received an alfentanil continuous infusion. Through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), Group II recovery scores were found to be significantly higher at T0 (p less than .0001), (p less than .0001), T15 (p less than .001), T30 (p less than .01) and T45 (p less than .02). There was no difference between groups at T60, at which time all patients received the maximum score of 10. No other factor besides anesthetic technique significantly affected recovery scores. Group II patients spent an average of 166 minutes (+/- 59 standard deviation) in the recovery room in comparison with 192 minutes (+/- 32 standard deviation) for Group I patients. Despite this finding, an ANCOVA determined that only presence of postoperative vomiting significantly affected recovery room time (p less than .03). Further research is indicated in the endeavor to reduce postoperative morbidity of this patient population.