Intramuscular Ketamine Effect on Postnasal Surgery Agitation: A Prospective Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial

This study investigates the effect of intramuscular ketamine on emergence agitation (EA) following septoplasty and open septorhinoplasty (OSRP) when administered at subanesthetic doses at the end of surgery. A random sample of 160 ASA I-II adult patients who underwent septoplasty or OSRP between May and October, 2022, was divided into two groups of eighty patients each: ketamine (Group K) and saline (Group S) with the latter serving as the control group. At the end of surgery immediately after turning off the inhalational agent, Group K was administered with intramuscular 2 ml of normal saline containing 0.7 mg/kg ketamine and Group S with 2 ml of intramuscular normal saline. Sedation and agitation scores at emergence from anesthesia were recorded after extubation using the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS). The incidence of EA was higher in the saline group than in the ketamine group (56.3% vs. 5%; odds ratio (OR): 0.033; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.010–0.103; p < 0.001). Variables associated with a higher incidence of agitation were ASA II classification (OR: 3.286; 95% (CI): 1.359–7.944; p=0.008), longer duration of surgery (OR: 1.010; 95% CI: 1.001–1.020; p=0.031), and OSRP surgery (OR: 2.157; CI: 1.056–5.999; p=0.037). The study concluded that the administration of intramuscular ketamine at a dose of 0.7 mg/kg at the end of surgery effectively reduced the incidence of EA in septoplasty and OSRP surgery.