Effects of ADJUVANT Ketamine on Induction of Anesthesia for the Cesarean Section.

Background: The cesarean section has shown an increasing trend within the past few years. The use of appropriate and effective anesthesia for the procedure is important, not only to reduce the incidence of maternal and fetal morbidities but also to reduce the incidence of intraoperative consciousness. The aim of this study is to evaluate the intraoperative and postoperative effects of adjuvant ketamine, when used in combination with general anesthesia.

Methods: The study was conducted on the patients referred to Asali hospital for the cesarean section. 100 patients were assigned into two groups. Patients in Group A received thiopental (4 mg / kg) as an anesthetic agent for the surgery, whereas those in group B received thiopental along with 0.5 mg/kg of intravenous ketamine. The effects of ketamine, such as depth of anesthesia, intraoperative and postoperative awareness, vomiting and hallucination were recorded in the questionnaire and data were statistically analyzed using SPSS v25.

Results: Of 100 patients in group A, 10 of them were not deeply unconscious. 40 patients in group A and 25 in group B had intraoperative awareness. Depth of anesthesia was significantly associated with the use of ketamine (p = 0.0017) 1 patient in group A and 3 in group B had vomiting and 1 patient in group B was presented with the hallucinations. These parameters were not significantly associated with the dose of ketamine (p = 0.5).

Conclusion: Overall use of ketamine is associated with better sedation and no significant side effects, with low doses of ketamine, were seen in our study. Comparative studies using other analgesics, with larger sample size, are therefore recommended.