New type of anaesthesia with sevofluran improves surgical and post-surgical course of burns treatment (IGA 6116/2).

The objectives of this open-perspective clinical study were to test the effect of a new type of anaesthesia using sevofluran during surgical treatment of patients with burns, and to compare it with that of ketamin, at present the most frequently used anaesthetic. The study, conceived as a pilot study, was performed on 10 paediatric and 8 adult patients with 2 n d degree burns covering between 7% and 35% of body surface. Owing to highly significant differences in parameters in favour of sevofluran, it was recommended by our ethical committee not to increase the number of patients. The parameters considered were ease of induction, undesirable effects, span of time before oral administration of liquids. Daily uptake of energy was measured for both types of anaesthetics in another group of 10 patients. In adult patients the two anaesthetics, ketamin versus sevofluran, differed in terms of incidence of unrest during surgery (ketamin 50% vs. sevofluran 0%, p<0.05), time between end of surgery and return to full consciousness (11.3 min. vs. 2.7 min. p< 0.001), post-surgical inhibition (75% vs. 0%, p<0.01) psychomimetic reactions after surgery (50% vs. 0%, p<0.05), time until first intake of liquids (86.7 min. vs. 8.5 min, p<0.001), and mobilisation (110.8 min. vs. 17 min., p<0.001). In paedriatic patients, differences in speed of onset of anaesthesia (216 sec. vs. 66 sec., p<0.001) and time until first uptake of liquids (75 min. vs. 22 min., p<0.001) were statistically significant. Apart from problems associated with anesthesia, another considerable advantage of the new anaesthetic sevofluran was a significantly increased uptake of calories after use than was the case after ketamin (1645 kJ higher on the average, p<0.05). Based on these results, sevofluran was introduced to burns surgery as a routine anaesthetic.