Comparison of the cost of balanced anaesthesia maintained with or without nitrous oxide at a university hospital
Authors:
Adamus Milan 1; Koutná Jiřina 1; Hrabálek Lumír 2; Konupčíková Kateřina 1; Fischerová Lucie 1; Frančáková Jana 1
Authors‘ workplace:
Klinika anesteziologie a resuscitace, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc
1; Neurochirurgická klinika, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc
2
Published in:
Anest. intenziv. Med., 22, 2011, č. 2, s. 90-94
Category:
Anaesthesiology - Original Paper
Overview
Objective:
To compare the cost of balanced anaesthesia with or without nitrous oxide.
Design:
A prospective, clinical, randomized, non-blinded study.
Setting:
Department of anaesthesiology, university hospital.
Materials and methods:
Following local ethics committee approval and after obtaining informed consent, patients scheduled for elective surgery under balanced anaesthesia with tracheal intubation were studied. The patients were randomized into two groups with different anaesthetic gases used. In Group AIR, air/oxygen/sevoflurane was administered; in Group N2O, nitrous oxide/oxygen/sevoflurane was used. The cost of the anaesthetic gases and sevoflurane was determined and the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the expenses in the two groups. The results were expressed as median and quartiles; P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
In Group AIR (10 males, 28 females) and Group N2O (7 males, 35 females), the demographics and duration of surgery were similar. The inhalational component of anaesthesia was more expensive in Group AIR (p = 0.005), due to higher consumption of sevoflurane (p = 0.001). There was no difference in the cost of oxygen between the groups (p = 0.138). Less sufentanil was used in Group N2O (p = 0.047). The consumption of the remaining anaesthetic agents (midazolam, propofol) and neuromuscular blocking agents (cisatracurium, rocuronium) was equal in Group AIR and Group N2O.
Conclusion:
Using nitrous oxide as part of balanced inhalational anaesthesia reduced the cost of anaesthesia.
Keywords:
pharmaco-economics – balanced anaesthesia – nitrous oxide – sevoflurane
Sources
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Anaesthesiology, Resuscitation and Inten Intensive Care MedicineArticle was published in
Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine
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