Ketamine versus propofol for strabismus surgery in children

PURPOSE: To compare the effects of intravenous infusion of ketamine and propofol anesthesia in children undergoing strabismus surgery. METHODS: Sixty pediatric patients aged 4–11 years were enrolled for the study. Patients in Group K were infused ketamine 1–3 mg/kg/hr (n = 30) and patients in Group P were infused with propofol 6–9 mg/kg/hr (n = 30). After giving fentanyl 1 μg/kg and rocuronium bromide 0.5 mg/kg, patients were intubated. RESULTS: The consumption of anesthetics (P = 0.0001) and antiemetics (P = 0.004), the incidence of oculocardiac reflex (P = 0.02) in Group K were significantly lower than in Group P. The recovery time (P = 0.008), postoperative agitation score (P = 0.005), Face Pain Scale (P = 0.001), Ramsay Sedation Score (P = 0.01) during awakening and at postoperative 30th min (P = 0.02) in Group K were significantly lower than in Group P. The postoperative agitation score during awakening was significantly lower than the preoperative values in Group K (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The infusion of ketamine is more advantageous than the infusion of propofol in children for use in strabismus surgery.