Recovery Following Desflurane vs Sevoflurane for Outpatient Urologic Surgery in Elderly Females

Following IRB-approved consent, 60 patients were be randomized (63 patients to be enrolled accounting for a <5% screen failure and <5% dropped patient rates) to receive either a desflurane or sevoflurane-based anesthetic for pelvic floor repair. The selection of the anesthetic gas (sevoflurane or desflurane) was determined by computer generated randomization. Only the Anesthesiologist or the CRNA knows which gas has been administered to the subject. All the investigators and the co-investigator who collected the research data were blinded to the gas selection.

Potential subjects were identified during the clinic visit in the Urology Department in Hahnemann University Hospital.

On the morning of the surgery, the study investigator who is a medical doctor asked the subjects to perform a baseline cognitive task tests to determine the baseline thinking process. The detailed description of the cognitive task is as following;

1. Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE): (10-15 minutes) This is a 30-item measure of global cognition (Folstein, Folstein & McHugh, 1975) that tests orientation to time and place, object naming, repetition, attention, recall, and following complex commands.
2. Trail Making Test Part A and Part B: Part A (3 minutes) of this measure (Army Individual Test Battery, 1944; Reitan & Wolfson, 1985) is a test of visual attention where the subjects must draw lines on a page connecting 25 consecutive number as quickly as possible. Part B (5 minutes) requires the subject to alternately sequence numbers and letters randomly distributed on a page into their ascending and alphabetical order as quickly as possible.
3. Digit Symbol Coding: (2 minutes) This subtest of the WAIS-III (Wechsler, 1997) consists of nine digit-symbol pairs followed by a list of digits. Under each digit the subject must write down the corresponding symbol as quickly as possible.
4. Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R): (8 minutes) Memory for verbal information will be assessed with this list learning task assessing immediate and delayed recall.
5. Stroop Color and Word Test: (5 minutes) This test (Stroop, 1935; Golden, 2002) measures cognitive control by asking subjects to suppress a habitual response in favor of an alternate response. Participants are shown a word and asked to name the color in which the word is written Total time expected for cognitive task tests is 28-33 min. If the patients' were able to drive and have been driving for at least one year, they were required to perform driving simulation. After performing the baseline cognitive task tests, baseline driving simulation (15 minutes) on the driving simulator.

After the baseline Cognitive Task Test and Virtual Driving Training session, the subjects underwent their planned surgery. The selection of the anesthetic gas was determined by a computer generated randomization list. The anesthesiologist or the CRNA in charge of the subject administered anesthesia. The investigators and the subjects were blinded to the anesthetic gas given. At the conclusion of the surgery, the anesthetic gas was shut down and the co-investigator was called into the OR to document the time the subjects take to open their eyes after the cessation of the gas.