Our results demonstrate that sevoflurane and isoflurane but not enflurane decrease Spo2 in infants receiving 67% nitrous oxide and oxygen. A preliminary study indicated that this phenomenon was not commonly observed with low concentrations of sevoflurane or isoflurane or in patients over 3 years of age.
All subjects in this investigation were free of any upper [...]

There were no significant differences among the three experimental groups with regard to age, body weight, or height (Table 1). The mean values (and standard deviations) for Spo2, heart rate, blood pressures, Petco2, and body temperature are listed in Table 2 by group and stage. In the sevoflurane and isoflurane groups, the mean Spo2 in [...]

Subjects
Seventy infants under 2 years of age without any respiratory or cardiovascular dysfunction were studied during general anesthesia for repair of a cleft lip or palate. After informed written consent was obtained from the parents, subjects were allocated randomly into 3 groups (sevoflurane group, n = 24; enflurane group, n = 26; isoflurane group, n [...]

Sevoflurane is considered to be a safe volatile anesthetic that, in usual concentrations, does not cause any severe side effects on respiration. Uptake of sevoflurane from the lung and recovery from general anesthesia are both rapid and smooth. However, we have sometimes observed slightly lower pulse oximetry (Spo2) values than expected when infants under 3 [...]