Postoperative nausea and vomiting in arthroscopic day-case surgery: a comparison between desflurane and isoflurane.

We compared the postoperative effects, in particular nausea and vomiting, of two commonly used anaesthetic agents, isoflurane and desflurane, in patients undergoing day-case arthroscopic surgery. We found a significantly higher incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in those patients receiving desflurane. In our study, desflurane was associated with a higher incidence of peroperative respiratory complications, including airway irritability and coughing.