In a prospective, randomized parallel study, 60 ASA I-III children aged 1-17 years, scheduled for elective
strabismus surgery, were anaesthetized with
desflurane without prophylactic
antiemetic medication. The objective of the study was to determine the incidence of
postoperative nausea and vomiting after general anaesthesia with
desflurane. To decide whether
nitrous oxide further influences these symptoms, the patients were randomly assigned to two groups of 30 patients each. One group received
desflurane in
oxygen/air and a second group received
desflurane in
oxygen/
nitrous oxide. In all children, after intravenous induction and tracheal intubation, anaesthesia was administered as minimal flow anaesthesia with
oxygen and
nitrous oxide or air according to the random plan. The patients were observed for 48 postoperative hours until their discharge from the ward. The overall incidence of
nausea was found to be 37%, and
vomiting was seen in 32% of all patients. No statistical correlation was found between the incidence of
postoperative emesis and the administration of
nitrous oxide or the duration of general anaesthesia. Instead, the incidence of
vomiting was 2.5-fold higher when surgery was performed on both eyes compared with one eye. The relatively low incidence of
postoperative nausea and vomiting, as well as the quick recovery from anaesthesia, permitting an early discharge from the
postoperative care unit to the ward, show
desflurane to be a suitable volatile anaesthetic in
strabismus surgery in children.