As the wound healing is a multi-factorial process, the anesthetic agent and the duration of its exposure may influence the healing process after surgery. This study investigated the effect of anesthetic agents and duration of its exposure on the wound healing process after operation.

Total 32 rats weighing 200-300 g were randomly allocated to one of eight groups according to the exposure time (1, 2, 4, 8 hours) of sevoflurane or propofol (n = 4 each). After wounding under the each anesthetic, anesthesia was maintained for 1, 2, 4 and 8 hours in each group. We compared the skin blood flow around the wound and the wound size at baseline, 3 days, and 7 days postoperatively.

In sevoflurane group, short exposure group (1, 2 hours) showed higher wound blood flow than long exposure (4, 8 hours) at 3 days after wounding (P < 0.05), but not at 7 days after wounding. For the wound size, there was no difference at 3 days after wounding in sevoflurane group, but 8 hours exposure group had the largest wound at 7 days after wounding. In propofol group, wound blood flow showed no difference at 3 days after wounding, but that of 4, 8 hours exposure group was higher than 2 hours exposure group at 7 days after wounding. There was no difference in wound size in propofol group.

This study implicates that sevoflurane might influence the wound healing process more prominently than propofol according to the duration of exposure time.