Comparison of Induction and Recovery Characteristics of Sevoflurane, Halothane and Propofol in Pediatric Outpatients

Objective: This study was done to compare and select the suitable anesthetic agent with smooth rapid induction, smooth rapid recovery, early readiness for discharge and with few intraoperative and emergence complications in pediatric outpatients. Material & methods: We studied 60 children undergoing bone marrow or C.S.F. aspiration for the diagnosis or follow up of leukemia or Hodgkin’s disease. They were randomly allocated to receive either sevoflurane or halothane as inhalation anesthetics or propofol as an intravenous one, for both induction and maintenance of anesthesia. Induction times, recovery times and intraoperative and emergence complications were recorded and statistical analysis of data was done to compare the differences between the three agents. Results: The three agents were found to provide satisfactory anesthetic conditions with few perioperative complications. However the use of propofol mandates insertion of an intravenous cannula, that was very difficult in small children under treatment with chemotherapy and also had prolonged recovery times. While the use of halothane was limited by its potential liver damaging effect with repeated anesthetic exposures. Conclusion: Sevoflurane was found to be the most suitable agent in this study. It had a smooth rapid induction time, the shortest recovery time, rapid hospital discharge, with very few intraoperative and postoperative complications and with no risk of anesthesia repetition in short time interval.