INTRODUCTION: around ninety percent of anorectal surgical procedures are performed as day cases. The choice of a proper anesthetic technique is important to achieve reduced time in the operating rooms, hospital stay and low costs. There is no evidence in the literature that a superior type of anesthesia for these procedures exists. OBJECTIVE: to compare the time spent on operating rooms in patients submitted to anorectal surgical procedures through spinal anesthesia (0,5% bupivacaine) with combined anesthesia (propofol and local perineal block with 2% lidocaine and 0,5% bupivacaine). METHODS: Fifty patients were operated with spinal anesthesia (group one) and forty-nine patients were operated with combined anesthesia (group two). The type of anorectal procedure and the time spent on anesthetic and surgical procedures were analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the studied groups regarding the type of operation, gender and age. The time of anesthetic and surgical procedures was 53,1 minutes in group one and 44,08 minutes in group two (p=0,034). CONCLUSIONS: These anesthetic techniques had similar efficacy. There was a lower time of anesthetic and surgical procedures in the combined anesthesia group, with statistical significance.
Spinal Anesthesia; Propofol; Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; Anal Canal; Colorectal Surgery
