【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the effects and safety of flumazenil in recovery of elderly patients from general anesthesia. Methods 62 elderly patients underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia were randomly divided into the flumazenil group and the control group with 31 cases in each group. The anesthesia induction and intraoperative anesthesia maintenance were the same in the two groups. When swallowing and cough reflex occurred, the tidal volume was larger than 6ml / kg and the ventilation indexes were good, the flumazenil group was given intravenous injection of 4 μg / kg of flumazenil in 15s, while the control group was given the same volume of normal saline. The anesthesia duration, eyeopening time and extubation time were recorded. The OOA/S scores and BIS values were recorded at the end of operation (T0) and at 1 min (T1), 2 min (T2), 3min (T3), 5 min (T4), 10 min (T5) and 20 min (T6) after the initial injection of flumazenil. The heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were compared at T0, T4, T5 and T6. The incidence of cognitive dysfunction was statistically analyzed at 24h and 72h after operation. Results The eyeopening time and extubation time of flumazenil group was shorter than that of control group (P＜ 005). T1 ~ T4, OOA/S scores and BIS values of flumazenil group were higher than those of control group (P＜ 005). There were no significant differences between the two groups in OOA/S scores and BIS values at T5 ~ T6, and in HR and MAP at T4 ~ T6 (P＞ 005). The incidence of cognitive dysfunction in flumazenil group was lower than that in the control group at 24h after operation (323% vs 1935%) (P＜ 005), but there was no significant difference between the two groups at 72h after operation (P＞ 005). Conclusion Flumazenil can improve OOA/S score and BIS value, shorten eyeopening time and extubation time and reduce the incidence of cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia, without affecting hemodynamics.