Remifentanil infusion facilitates early recovery for obese outpatients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Abstract

D espite the well known adverse effects of obesity, it is still the most common nutritional disorder in the United States. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of data supporting the use of one anesthetic technique over another in obese (versus nonobese) patient populations. Prolonged emergence time from general anesthesia in obese patients can be problematic in the ambulatory setting because it can delay the early recovery process. Cork et al. (1) reported that the use of IV anesthetic and analgesic drugs does not guarantee a shorter emergence period in the obese population. Because remifentanil can reduce the required endtidal concentration of volatile anesthetics by up to 50% (2,3), we hypothesized that the use of a remifentanil infusion during a sevoflurane-based anesthetic would facilitate emergence from anesthesia in obese patients undergoing ambulatory surgery.