BACKGROUND To determine possible delays in recovery after intravenous anesthesia induction with thiopental, the drug was compared with methohexital in infants 1-12 months of age who were scheduled for hernia repair or circumcision. METHODS The infants were given equipotent doses of methohexital (3.0 mg/kg, n = 21) or thiopental (7.3 mg/kg, n = 20), in random and blind fashion. After tracheal intubation, anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in nitrous oxide/oxygen. All children received 0.75 ml/kg caudal bupivacaine (2.5 mg/ml). Isoflurane was discontinued at the beginning of skin closure, and nitrous oxide was terminated immediately after the last suture (end of surgery). RESULTS There were no differences between the two groups with respect to age, weight, or duration of surgery, which lasted 19 min (14-23 min) in the methohexital group and 16 min (15-19 min) in the thiopental group (median and inner quartile range). Time from termination of nitrous oxide to extubation did not differ significantly between the groups. Time to spontaneous eye opening after end of surgery was 23 min (5-44 min) after methohexital induction and 55 min (25-74 min) after thiopental induction (P < 0.05). Recovery, assessed as postanesthetic recovery scores by a blinded observer, was significantly more rapid in the methohexital group at arrival in the recovery room and 5, 15, and 45 min after arrival. After 120 min, almost all infants of both groups were awake. CONCLUSIONS Recovery after short surgical procedures in infants is faster after intravenous induction with methohexital than with thiopental.