The analysis was conducted on an intention to treat basis. The primary health outcomes were:
intraoperative adverse events,
postoperative sequelae,
recovery times,
patient and provider satisfaction, and
perioperative drug dosage.
The outcomes used to assess the patients during the operations were:
average bispectral (BIS) index value,
end-tidal sevoflurane,
sevoflurane down-titrations,
sevoflurane up-titrations,
intraoperative hypotension,
intraoperative signs of light anaesthesia, and
intraoperative adverse events.
The outcomes used to assess postoperative recovery were:
postoperative hypotension,
postoperative sequelae,
first rescue antiemetic treatment,
second rescue antiemetic treatment,
nausea visual analogue scale (VAS) score on arrival at the PACU,
nausea VAS score in the PACU,
nausea VAS score on discharge from the PACU,
nausea VAS score at second stage recovery,
time to first analgesic request, and
postoperative fentanyl requirements.
The times for the following were also used to assess postoperative recovery:
follows verbal commands,
first analgesic request,
PACU discharge,
first antiemetic request,
first intake by mouth,
home discharge, and
first "felt like myself".
The anaesthesiologist and the blinded nurse observer completed a brief survey on each patient and the patients were surveyed 24 hours after discharge. The groups were generally comparable at baseline apart from the mean weight. This was higher in the remifentanil group (70.2 kg) than in the fentanyl group (62.1 kg), (p=0.015).