Study design

Randomized, crossover study.

Animals

Six geldings, mean ± standard deviation (SD) (range), 17 ± 4 (11–24) years and 527 ± 80 (420–660) kg.

Methods

Horses were anesthetized with sevoflurane for 60 minutes under standardized conditions for a regional limb perfusion study. In recovery, horses were administered either xylazine (200 μg kg^?1) or dexmedetomidine (0.875 μg kg^?1) intravenously. Recoveries were unassisted and were video-recorded for later evaluation of recovery events and quality by two individuals unaware of treatment allocation. Recovery quality was assessed using a 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS) (0 = poor recovery, 100 = excellent recovery), the Edinburgh Scoring System (ESS) (0–100; 100 = excellent recovery) and the mean attempt interval (MAI) (longer = better). Data are mean ± SD.

Results

All recovery quality assessments (xylazine and dexmedetomidine, respectively: VAS: 71 ± 21 mm, 84 ± 13 mm; ESS: 65 ± 22, 67 ± 30; MAI: 52 ± 24 minutes, 60 ± 32 minutes) and events (first limb movement: 37 ± 8 minutes, 42 ± 10 minutes; first attempt to lift head: 44 ± 12 minutes, 48 ± 9 minutes; first attempt to sternal posture: 57 ± 28 minutes, 50 ± 7 minutes; number of head bangs: 2.0 ± 3.0, 0.5 ± 0.5; time to first attempt to stand: 72 ± 6 minutes, 78 ± 13 minutes; time to standing: 79 ± 14 minutes, 84 ± 13 minutes) did not differ significantly between treatments (p > 0.05).

Conclusions and clinical relevance

Recovery characteristics did not differ significantly between postanesthetic xylazine and dexmedetomidine following 1 hour of sevoflurane anesthesia in horses in this study. Further evaluations in more horses and in younger horses are required to confirm these results.