Korean J Anesthesiol.  1973 Dec;6(2):165-170.

Clinical Observation of the Anesthesia with Ketamine

• Shin SK

Abstract

In a series of 50 patients (male 31, female 19) ketamine was used for various surgical procedures. The youngest patient was a 5 month infant undergoing skin graft and the oldest was a 62 year old woman undergoing removal of sutures. Ketamine was administered intravenously and intramuscularly by single or repeated doses, When administered I.V., at doses of 2 mg/kg, surgical analgesia was achieved within 60 seconds and lasted from 12 to 25 minutes. With I.M. doses of 7 mg/kg, surgical anesthesia was established within 2 to 3minutes and lasted from 18 to 60 minutes. Ketamine anesthesia seems distinctly different from that induced by conventional anesthetic agents. The anesthetic state is characterized by profound analgesia combined with a peculiar state of unconsciousness in which the patient does not appear to be asleep or anesthetized but rather disconnected from his surroundings. Respiratory function of the anesthetized patient with ketamine is usually unimpaired and stimulation of the cardiovascular system results in moderate acceleration of cardiac rate and blood pressure although they gradually return to preinjection levels within a few minutes. Clinically it has become increasingly apparent that ketamine is an useful, safe and effective anesthetic agent for a variety of diagnostic and surgical procedures.

MeSH Terms

Acceleration
Analgesia
Anesthesia*
Anesthetics
Blood Pressure
Cardiovascular System
Female
Humans
Infant
Ketamine*
Skin
Sutures
Transplants
Unconsciousness
Anesthetics
Ketamine