Background: There has been increasing attention on the subjective recovery of patients undergoing cancer surgery. Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) and inhaled anesthesia with volatile anesthetics (INHA) are safe and common anesthetic techniques. Currently, TIVA and INHA have only been compared for less invasive and less complex surgeries. This prospective randomized trial aimed to compare the quality of recovery between TIVA and INHA in patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) or distal pancreatectomy (DP) using the Quality of Recovery (QOR)-40 questionnaire.
Methods: We enrolled 132 patients who were randomly assigned to either the desflurane (DES) (INHA, balanced anesthesia with DES and remifentanil infusion) or TIVA (effect-site target-controlled infusion of propofol and remifentanil) groups and completed the QOR-40 questionnaire postoperatively.
Results: The mean global QOR-40 score on postoperative day 3 was significantly higher in the TIVA group than in the DES group. In the PD group, the total QOR-40 score was significantly higher in the TIVA group than in the DES group. Moreover, the TIVA group had significantly higher scores in the physical comfort and psychological support QOR-40 dimensions than the DES group.
Conclusion: TIVA provides better quality of recovery scores on POD 3 for patients undergoing curative pancreatectomy.
Clinical trial registration number: NCT03447691.