13. A prospective randomized control evaluation of desflurane and propofol for emergence from anesthesia following resection of cerebellopontine angle tumors

Background: Desflurane and propofol are commonly used anesthetic agent in neurosurgical patients. Though these agents have been commonly used in patients undergoing supratentorial neurosurgery, there is paucity of data evaluating its use in surgery for cerebellopontine (CP) angle tumors. The primary aim was to evaluate the time to emergence from anesthesia with use of desflurane when compared to propofol. The intraoperative hemodynamics, brain relaxation and vasomotor response during tumor resection were the secondary outcomes. Materials and Methods: The present study was a prospective randomized trial conducted on thirty adult patients undergoing CP angle tumor resection. Anesthesia was induced with morphine 0.1 mg/kg and thiopentone 4-6 mg/kg while muscle relaxation was achieved with vecuronium. Anesthesia was maintained with desflurane or propofol as per the randomization along with nitrous oxide (NO) to maintain a state 2 entropy value of 40-60. Desflurane or propofol were switched off after completion of skin sutures while NO was switched off following removal of skull pins. Results: The time to emergence following cessation of anesthesia was 4.7 ± 1.3 minutes in desflurane group while it was 9.6 ± 3.3 minutes in propofol group (P < 0.05). The intraoperative hemodynamics, brain relaxation, vasomotor response and emergence characteristics were comparable in both groups. Conclusions: The use of desflurane for maintenance of anesthesia is associated with faster emergence when compared to propofol in patients undergoing resection of CP angle tumors. However, the intraoperative profiles were similar with the use of either anesthetic agent.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).