Induction: and maintenance of general anesthesia in pediatric patients is often managed with an inhaled anesthetic agent, with various inhalational anesthetic agents available having their pros and cons. In this study, we evaluated and compared sevoflurane with halothane in pediatric patients for induction characteristics and hemodyanamic effects. Sixty patients, aged between 2 and 10 years undergoing various surgeries were randomly divided into two groups of 30 each to receive either sevoflurane or halothane anesthesia, induced by using
equipotent incremental doses of either of the inhalational agent upto 3 MAC. Anesthesia was then maintained with either of the inhalational agents at 0.5 MAC with nitrous oxide (60%) in oxygen (40%). Induction time, induction scoring and hemodynamic parameters were recorded and analyzed using appropriate statistical method. Results: of our study showed that the induction time of sevoflurane was significantly faster than that of halothane (184 ± 56 secs vs 302 ± 62 secs) without any major airway problem (salivation, breath-holding and coughing). Excitement and restlessness during induction was found to be more common with sevoflurane than with halothane but this difference was not statistically and did not interfere with the induction. Heart rate
and blood pressure were better maintained during sevoflurane anesthesia than the halothane anesthesia. We did not find any significant incidence of cardiac arrhythmias with either of the agents.