Objective: The present study was designed to assess the recovery from propofol compared with isoflurane anesthesia. Methods: Patients were randomly divided into 6 groups according to the anesthetic technique as follows: with or without nitrous oxide, maintenance agents (propofol, isoflurane), and induction agents (propofol, thiamylal). The recovery times, postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting (PONV) and mood were evaluated after operation. Results: The measuerd times in isoflurane groups with epidural anesthesia were significantly shorter than those in groups with nitrous oxide. However, only the oriented times in the propofol group with epidural anesthesia were significantly shorter than those in the propofol group with nitrous oxide. In addition, there were no significant differences in any of the times among the groups without epidural anesthesia. In groups with epidural anesthesia, the recovery times in the propofol group were significantly longer than those in the propofol-induction and isoflurane-maintenance group. The subjective pain scale score in the propofol with nitrous oxide group was greater than that in all epidural groups. Significant differences were not found in emesis and feeling among the groups. Conclusion: Propofol could not provide for a rapid emergence with less PONV when compared with isoflurane. Propofol as an induction agent did not show better results than thiamylal after isoflurane anesthesia. Nitrous oxide did not increase the incidence of PONV after propofol or isoflurane anesthesia.
A 2000 study studied this question.