We compared the recovery profile and postoperative SpO(2) after the administration of general anesthesia with either sevoflurane-remifentanil or sevoflurane-sufentanil in 30 healthy patients undergoing upper abdominal surgery. They were randomly allocated to receive general anesthesia with sevoflurane and small doses of either remifentanil (n = 15) or sufentanil (n = 15), followed by postoperative epidural analgesia. The median sevoflurane minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration-hour was 2.3 (1.2-6.3) in group Remifentanil and 2.6 (1.4-5.2) in group Sufentanil (P: = 0.39), while the median consumption of remifentanil was 1.3 mg (0.7-3.4 mg) and sufentanil 0.09 mg (0.05-0.6 mg). Tracheal extubation required 10 min (6-18 min) with remifentanil and 14 min (8-24 min) with sufentanil (P: = 0.05); however, no differences in time to discharge from the recovery area were reported (24 min [12-75 min] with remifentanil and 30 min [12-135 min] with sufentanil; P: = 0. 35). From the first to seventh hour after surgery, SpO(2) was decreased more in the sufentanil than in the remifentanil group (P: = 0.001), and seven patients in the sufentanil group showed at least one episode with SpO(2) < or = 90% for more than 1 min (P: = 0.006) (median: 1 episode; range: 0-17 episodes; P: = 0.003). When added to sevoflurane, remifentanil is as effective as sufentanil during the intraoperative period, but provides shorter time to tracheal extubation and fewer effects on postoperative SpO(2) in the first 7 h after surgery.
Implications: In this double-blinded study, we evaluated the effects of adding small infusions of either remifentanil or sufentanil to sevoflurane in combination with postoperative epidural analgesia for upper abdominal surgery. We demonstrated that remifentanil is as effective as sufentanil during the intraoperative period, but that it provides shorter time to extubation and fewer effects on postoperative SpO(2) in the first 7 h after surgery.