DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i03.040

Pages: 1064-1068

A child with Emergence Agitation (EA) is in a dissociated state of consciousness in which the child is irritable, uncooperative, incoherent and inconsolably crying, kicking or thrashing. The Watcha scale is a simple tool used to identify EA in children. This study compares the Emergence Agitation in children with desflurane versus sevoflurane anaesthesia, using the Watcha Scale. A Randomized Controlled trial was conducted which included 60 patients. Patients were divided into 2 groups with 30 patients in each group. All patients were given general anaesthesia with the inhalational agent of choice as sevoflurane in one group and desflurane in the other. The time to extubation from the stoppage of the inhalation agent was noted and the behaviour of the child was monitored post-extubation in accordance with the watcha score for next 2 hours. The incidence of emergence agitation with sevoflurane anaesthesia (36.7%) and desflurane anaesthesia (23.3%) was similar and statistically not significant. However, the time to extubation from the stoppage of the inhalational agent was 4-7mins in the sevoflurane group while it was 3-5mins in the desflurane group which was statistically significant. Thus, sevoflurane and desflurane can both be used in paediatric anaesthesia but patients should be watched for emergence agitation post-operatively with both agents.