The volume of outpatient surgical procedures continues to grow. It is estimated that by 1990 more than 50 per cent of all surgical procedures will be performed on an outpatient basis) There is stilt controversy over which anaesthetic techniques are most appropriate. White z has shown that when fentanyl is used as an adjuvant to nitrous oxide in oxygen, a continuous infusion is superior to an intermittent bolus technique. Sufentanil, a new narcotic agonist, is reported to be between five and ten t~mes more potent than fentanyl. 3'4 It has a more rapid enset s and shorter elimination half-life 6'7 and recovery times 8 than does fentanyl. These three characteristics
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