Background and Goal of Study: The limitation of desflurane (DES) on its odor leads to a controversy if desflurane is similar to or worse than sevoflurane (SEVO) for laryngeal mask airway (LMA) anaesthesia. This is a non-inferiority study designed to compare occurrences of respiratory complications between DES and SEVO during LMA anaesthesia.
Materials and Methods: A total of 220 patients undergoing elective surgery, who received LMA anaesthesia were equally randomised into DES and SEVO groups. Inhaled anaesthetic, either DES or SEVO, was started after LMA insertion and discontinued at the end of surgery. During the maintenance and emergence of anaesthesia, occurrences of adverse respiratory events were recorded as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes were recovery profiles, which included time to and quality of recovery.
Results: One-hundred and ten patients per group were recruited with similar demographic data and anaesthesia induction techniques. The respiratory complications during anaesthesia were not different between groups but laryngospasm during emergence was significantly higher in the SEVO group (0.9% vs. 8.2%, RR [95% CI] 0.11 [0.01, 0.86], p = 0.010). Emergence times were significantly faster (all p < 0.001) and postoperative bed-to-bed self-transfer ability was significantly higher (88.7% vs. 68.6%; p = 0.004) in the DES group. Both groups returned of orientations and were ready for discharge from post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at similar times.
Conclusion: DES is possibly superior to SEVO regarding occurrences of adverse respiratory events during LMA anaesthesia.

04 / The effect of desflurane vs. sevoflurane on perioperative respiratory complications in LMA anaesthesia: a prospective randomised double-blinded controlled trial (a preliminary report)