Two percent lidocaine spinal anaesthesia compared with sevoflurane anaesthesia in ambulatory knee surgery - cost-effectiveness, home readiness and recovery profiles.

A total of 60 patients scheduled for elective knee arthroscopy were randomized to receive spinal anaesthesia (SA) with 2% lidocaine (n=30) or general anaesthesia with sevoflurane (SE) (n=30). SA and SE were compared in terms of the total costs of anaesthesia. The time to reach home readiness and the total time spent in the recovery unit (RU) were assessed. The early postoperative period and recovery at 24 h and 1 week were evaluated in terms of the incidence of pain, sedation, nausea and general satisfaction with the method of anaesthesia and postoperative instructions. The total costs of anaesthetic materials in the operation theatre (OT) and anaesthetic materials and personnel costs until home readiness was achieved in the RU were 160.7 FIM (1 FIM=0.17 EUR) for SA and 171.0 FIM for SE (not significant). The corresponding sums were 197.2 FIM for SA and 224.4 FIM for SE (P=0.001) when the total stay in RU was considered. The time to reach home readiness was 140.8 min (S.D. 52) in the SA group and 96.4 min (S.D. 62) in the SE group (P=0.02). There were no differences in the total RU time (224.0 min (S.D. 67) for SA and 218.0 min (S.D. 59) for SE). The level of postoperative pain was generally low, as all the SA patients and 86.7% of the SE patients had VAS<4 2 h postoperatively. Six SA patients (20.0%) had postoperative headache and two of them also had headache in the supine position. There were no headaches in the SE group (P=0.024). None of the patients in the SA group and six SE patients (20.0%) had nausea (needed treatment) in the RU (P=0.024). Four patients (13.3%) in the SE group and 1 patient (3.3%) in the SA group had nausea during the first 24 h postoperatively. All the patients were alert 60 min postoperatively with no difference between the groups and they were very satisfied during the first 24 h. All patients would have liked to have a similar operation done on an ambulatory basis. 93.3% said they would choose the same kind of anaesthesia. 91.7% were satisfied with the first week.General anaesthesia with SE is more cost-effective than SA with 2% lidocaine in ambulatory knee surgery if a short RU time is needed. The patients do generally well, but the incidence of postspinal headache with SA, adequate postoperative pain treatment and the possibility to have nausea with SE must be kept in mind.