It is commonly believed that the choice of the primary anesthetic agent does not result in different outcomes after cardiac surgery. Recent evidence however has indicated that volatile anesthetics improve post-ischemic recovery. These results have been summarized in a meta-analysis of 22 randomized studies, involving 1922 patients: the use of volatile anesthetics was associated with significant reductions of myocardial infarctions (24/979 [2.4%] in the volatile anesthetics group vs 45/874 [5.1%] in the control arm, odds ratio [OR]=0.51 [0.32-0.84], and mortality (4/977 [0.4%] vs 14/872 [1.6%], OR=0.31 [0.12-0.80].