Anesthesia for TORS for Oropharyngeal Carcinoma: Factors Associated with Prolonged Phase I Postanesthesia Recovery

Clinical variables affecting anesthetic recovery following transoral robotic surgery (TORS) to resect oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma have not been described. We aimed to explore risk factors associated with prolonged postanesthesia recovery following TORS.Retrospective case-control study.Tertiary referral center, January 2010 to November 2016.Patients included adults undergoing primary TORS ± neck dissection for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Patients were categorized by phase I recovery time into the "goal" recovery group (75th percentile [lower 3 quartiles], n = 272) and the "prolonged" recovery group (n = 91). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the associations between clinical characteristics and prolonged phase I recovery.A total of 363 patients were included. Median (interquartile range) duration of postanesthesia recovery was 1.5 hours (1.0-2.0). Prolonged recovery was associated with isoflurane (odds ratio, 2.83 [95% CI, 1.56-5.14],Several anesthetic factors are associated with anesthesia recovery duration, which may be shortened by efforts to reduce postoperative sedation, severe pain, and nausea/vomiting. Shortened anesthesia recovery time may reduce hospital stay.