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The purpose of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness between the 2 types of general anesthesia, namely, laryngeal mask (LMA) and endotracheal intubation (ETT). The study included 353 patients who received general anesthesia during operation in a medical center in Kaohsiung City. Of these, 183 patients were assigned to the LMA group, while the remaining 170 were assigned to the ETT group. The norm of cost adopted by this study was calculated as the average expense per hour incurred by using the anesthetic and hygienic materials for medicinal use. The indices of effectiveness were physical reactions that were tracked at 2 h and 8¡V10 h postoperatively; these indices were acute pain, dizzyness, sore throat, nausea, and vomiting. These 5 indices were rated on a scale of 0¡V10. A low score was considered to represent lesser side-effects and greater effectiveness of the anesthetic. Besides, the shorter the recovery time of the patient was, the higher the effectiveness would be. The conclusion showed that the cost of the average expense per hour produced by the anesthesia and hygienic materials of medicinal use in the LMA group was 531 dollars while in the ETT group was 1,017 dollars. In the LMA group, at 2 h postoperatively, the mean tracking score for acute pain was 2.9 ¡Ó 2.6; for dizzyness, 1.4 ¡Ó 1.9; for sore throat, 0.4 ¡Ó 1.1; for nausea, 0.5 ¡Ó 1.4; and for vomiting, 0.2 ¡Ó 0.9. In the LMA group, at 8¡V10 h postoperatively, the mean tracking score for acute pain was 0.9 ¡Ó 1.5; for dizzyness, 0.6¡Ó1.3; for sore throat, 0.2 ¡Ó 0.7; for nausea, 0.1 ¡Ó 0.6; and for vomiting, 0.07 ¡Ó 0.4. In the ETT group, at 2 h postoperatively, the mean tracking score for acute pain was 4.9 ¡Ó 3.2; for dizzyness, 2.6 ¡Ó 2.5; for sore throat, 2.0 ¡Ó 2.1; for nausea, 1.3 ¡Ó 2.4; and for vomiting, 0.7 ¡Ó 1.9. In the ETT group, at 8¡V10 h postoperatively, the mean tracking score for acute pain was 2.82¡Ó 2.5; for dizzyness, 1.9 ¡Ó 1.9; for sore throat, 1.3 ¡Ó 1.9; for nausea, 1.1 ¡Ó 2.1; and for vomiting, 0.7 ¡Ó 1.9. The mean postoperative recovery time of the patients in the LMA group was 11.5¡Ó13.2 min and that for the patients in the ETT group was 25.9¡Ó16.0 min. T-test was performed to examine the hypothesis that LMA is more cost-effective than ETT when the same variables as those mentioned above are used; the results of all variables support the hypothesis that the p-value of every index was .000. Results of stepwise regression showed that LMA plays a significant positive role in every cost-effectiveness index.