The effect of sevoflurane compared to propofol maintenance on post-surgical quality of recovery in patients undergoing an ambulatory gynecological surgery: A prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled, clinical trial

Objective The main objective of the current investigation was to evaluate the effect of propofol used as anesthetic maintenance compared to sevoflurane on global post-surgical quality of recovery in female patients undergoing ambulatory gynecological surgery. Design The study was a prospective randomized double blinded, controlled, clinical trial. Interventions Healthy female subjects were randomized to receive propofol or sevoflurane as anesthetic maintenance. Measurements The primary outcome was the Quality of Recovery 40 (QOR-40) questionnaire at 24 h after surgery. Other data collected included opioid consumption, pain scores and time to hospital discharge. P < 0.05 was used to reject the null hypothesis for the primary outcome. Main results Ninety subjects were randomized and sixty seven completed the study. Patient's baseline characteristics and surgical factors were not different between study groups. There was not a clinically significant difference in the global QoR-40 scores between the sevoflurane and the propofol groups, median (IQR) of 175 (163 to 181) and 176 (163 to 184), respectively, P = 0.97. There was an inverse relationship (ρ = − 0.42) between the opioid consumption in PACU (IV morphine equivalents) and 24 h postoperative quality of recovery (P < 0.001) and an inverse relationship (ρ = − 0.48) between the oral opioid consumption at home (oral morphine equivalents) and 24 h postoperative quality of recovery, P < 0.001. Conclusions Our current results do not support the use of total intravenous anesthesia as an efficacious strategy to improve global quality of recovery after ambulatory surgery. Opioid consumption in the PACU is an earlier surrogate that can be utilized to identify ambulatory patients with a high likelihood to develop poor global quality of recovery and who may benefit from more efficacious strategies to improve global quality of recovery. Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.gov; url: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; registration identified: NCT 01755234.