Objective: To evaluate the quality of recovery in patients maintained with Sevoflurane and Desflurane anesthesia during flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy surgery, based on the QoR-15 score.
Methods: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted on 60 patients undergoing flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy at Hanoi Medical University Hospital in 2025. Patients were equally divided into two groups (n = 30 each), matched for age and sex, and maintained with either Sevoflurane or Desflurane anesthesia.
Results: The mean time to full recovery was significantly shorter in the Desflurane group (10.96 ± 8.13 minutes) compared to the Sevoflurane group (16.44 ± 4.02 minutes, p = 0.004). Extubation time was also shorter in the Desflurane group (10.96 ± 8.13 minutes) versus the Sevoflurane group (16.44 ± 4.02 minutes, p = 0.079). Both groups achieved high total QoR-15 scores (> 130), indicating excellent postoperative recovery quality. Preoperatively, the Desflurane group had a higher QoR-15 score (140.0 ± 14.9) than the Sevoflurane group (132.2 ± 14.9, p = 0.078). Postoperatively, the Desflurane group showed a slight improvement (141.6 ± 12.3), whereas the Sevoflurane group showed a mild decrease (131.2 ± 9.6), with the difference being statistically significant (p = 0.003).
Conclusion: Both Desflurane and Sevoflurane provide good recovery quality in patients undergoing flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy. However, Desflurane demonstrates advantages with faster recovery, earlier extubation, and improved postoperative recovery quality.