Recovery after day-case anaesthesia. A 24-hour comparison of recovery after thiopentone or propofol anaesthesia.

Sixty patients who presented for day-case dilatation and curettage were allocated randomly to receive either thiopentone or propofol for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. One anaesthetist administered all the anaesthetics whilst all assessments were made by one other. The results indicate that early recovery of memory function, critical flicker fusion frequency and subjective feelings of tiredness, drowsiness and alertness were superior in the propofol group. There was a significant difference in subjective feelings of tiredness and drowsiness recorded by the two study groups at 24 hours. Memory function assessed by Wechsler logical memory function passages at 24 hours was impaired in the propofol group in comparison to a group of 'reference' subjects.