ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2014 March;173(3):79-85

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Peroperative low dose ketamine infusion is reducing postoperative tramadol consumption after major abdominal surgery

Sinikoglu N., Yektaş A., Gumus F., Erkalp K., Sevdi M., Gul N.

Bagcilar Egitim Arastirma Hastanesi, Istanbul, Turkey

Aim: Ketamine decreases postoperative analgesic consumption, but its dosing and duration of administration and effectiveness after major abdominal surgery remains unclear. In this study we investigated the effects of low dose perioperative ketamine infusion on postoperative tramadol consumption via patient controlled analgesia (PCA) device after major abdominal surgery.
Methods: Sixty patients scheduled for major abdominal surgery were randomized under double blind conditions to two groups. Patients in group A received 0.5 mg·kg-1 iv bolus 10 minutes before incision plus 0.2 µg·kg-1·min-1 ketamine infusion during the surgery starting just after the bolus dose and patients in Group B received 0.5 mL·kg-1 iv bolus saline 10 minutes before incision plus 50 mL of saline infusion during the surgery starting just after the bolus dose. All patients received postoperative tramadol infusion via PCA. Total tramadol consumption and visual analogue scale scores were recorded.
Results: Total cumulative tramadol consumption 24 h after surgery was significantly lower (P=0.001) in the ketamine group (309±63) compared with normal saline group (477±136). VAS scores were significantly lower 1 h (3.03±0.76 vs. 3.80±0.84), 2 h (2.77±0.50 vs. 3.30±0.65) and 4 h (2.37±0.62 vs. 2.80±0.85) after the surgery in ketamine infusion group than the placebo group.
Conclusion: Low dose perioperative ketamine infusion significantly reduced postoperative analgesic requirement after major abdominal surgery.