OBJECTIVE: The end-tidal concentration of inhalation anesthetics is a clinical indicator for predicting the emergence from anesthesia. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between arterial blood and end-tidal sevoflurane concentrations during emergence. METHODS: Thirty-two female American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-II patients receiving general anesthesia for elective gynecologic surgery were included. A fixed dose of 3.5% inspiratory sevoflurane in 6 L min-1 oxygen was maintained until the end of surgery. At 20 and 10 minutes before and 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes after discontinuing sevoflurane, as well as at the time of eye opening by verbal command, defined as awakening, 1 ml arterial blood was obtained to measure its sevoflurane concentration by gas chromatography. Simultaneous inspiratory and end-tidal concentrations of sevoflurane were detected by an infrared analyzer and tested by Bland-Altman agreement analysis. RESULTS: The arterial blood concentrations of sevoflurane were similar to the simultaneous end-tidal concentrations during emergence: 0.36% (0.10) and 0.36% (0.08) sevoflurane at awakening, respectively. The mean time from discontinuing sevoflurane to eye opening was 15.8 minutes (SD 2.9, range 10-26) and was significantly correlated with the duration of anesthesia (52-192 minutes) (P = 0.006) but not with the body mass index or total fentanyl dose. CONCLUSION: The mean awakening arterial blood concentration of sevoflurane was 0.36%. The time to awakening was prolonged in accordance with the anesthetic duration within 3 hours. With well-assisted ventilation during emergence, the sevoflurane end-tidal concentration was nearly equal to its arterial blood concentration, which could be a feasible predictor for awakening.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the awakening arterial blood concentration of desflurane and its relationship with the end-tidal concentration during emergence from various durations of general anesthesia. METHOD: In total, 42 American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class I-II female patients undergoing elective gynecologic surgery were enrolled. General anesthesia was maintained with fixed 6% inspiratory desflurane in 6 l min-1 oxygen until shutoff of the vaporizer at the end of surgery. One milliliter of arterial blood was obtained for desflurane concentration determination by gas chromatography at 20 and 10 minutes before and 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes after the discontinuation of desflurane and at the time of eye opening upon verbal command, defined as awakening. Concentrations of inspiratory and end-tidal desflurane were simultaneously detected by an infrared analyzer. RESULTS: The mean arterial blood concentration of desflurane was 1.20% at awakening, which correlated with the awakening end-tidal concentration of 0.96%. The mean time from the discontinuation of desflurane to eye opening was 5.2 minutes (SD = 1.6, range 3-10), which was not associated with the duration of anesthesia (60-256 minutes), total fentanyl dose, or body mass index (BMI). CONCLUSIONS: The mean awakening arterial blood concentration of desflurane was 1.20%. The time to awakening was independent of anesthetic duration within four hours. Using well-assisted ventilation, the end-tidal concentration of desflurane was proven to represent the arterial blood concentration during elimination and could be a clinically feasible predictor of emergence from general anesthesia.

OBJECTIVES: Under a constant inspired concentration, the uptake of a volatile anesthetic into the arterial blood should mainly be governed by alveolar ventilation, according to the assumption that the patient's cardiac output remains stable during anesthesia. We investigated whether ventilation volume affects the rate of desflurane uptake by examining arterial blood concentrations. METHOD: Thirty female patients were randomly allocated into the following three groups: hyperventilation, normal ventilation and hypoventilation. Hemodynamic variables were measured using a Finometer, inspiratory and end-tidal concentrations of desflurane were measured by infrared analysis, and the desflurane concentration in the arterial blood (Ades) was analyzed by gas chromatography. RESULTS: During the first 10 minutes after the administration of desflurane, the Ades was highest in the hyperventilation group, and this value was significantly different from those obtained for the normal and hypoventilation groups. In addition, hyperventilation significantly increased the slope of Ades-over-time during the first 5 minutes compared with patients experiencing normal ventilation and hypoventilation, but there were no differences in these slopes during the periods from 5-10, 10-20 and 20-40 minutes after the administration of desflurane. This finding indicates that there were no differences in desflurane uptake between the three groups after the first 5 minutes within desflurane administration. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperventilation accelerated the rate of the rise in Ades following desflurane administration, which was time-dependent with respect to different alveolar ventilations levels.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the trends and characteristics of pethidine prescriptions and users in Taiwan from 2002 to 2007. METHOD: All pethidine users (n = 3,301,136) in Taiwan from 2002 to 2007 were linked to National Health Insurance claims to identify pethidine prescriptions. We examined the trends in pethidine user prevalence and the proportion of pethidine prescriptions according to health care characteristics. A logistic regression model was used to compare patient demographics and health care characteristics associated with pethidine prescriptions between 2002 and 2007. RESULTS: Despite the decline in the number of pethidine users and prescriptions over the six-year period, more than half a million people were prescribed pethidine annually. In fact, an increasing proportion of pethidine prescriptions were observed in clinics, outpatient settings, and patients who had both operations and cancer diagnoses. Pethidine prescriptions were mostly associated with a non-operation status without a cancer diagnosis (>60%). However, approximately 10% of the total pethidine prescriptions were found in patients with a cancer diagnosis but no operation. Compared to those in 2002, pethidine prescriptions in 2007 were more likely to be found in people 80 years or older, rural residents, patients from clinics, outpatient settings and operation patients with cancer diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: A population-based survey in Taiwan demonstrated decreasing consumption of pethidine from 2002 to 2007; however, an increased proportion of prescriptions in certain health care settings was observed. In addition, 10% of the pethidine prescriptions were for cancer patients without operations. These cases need further evaluation for the determination of appropriate pethidine use.