Dexmedetomidine versus ketamine infusion to alleviate propofol injection pain

Abstract

Introduction: Propofol a widely used anesthetic agent administered for induction and maintenance of anesthesia, post operative and ICU sedation and anticonvulsant agent. Pain on injection is a common complain during propofol administration. Many drugs like local anesthetic, opiates, esmolol, clonidine, ketamine have been tried to alleviate propofol injection pain. Here we have compared the effect of dexmedetomidine and ketamine in alleviating propofol injection pain. Materials and methods: 108 patients of either sexes, in the age groups 20-50 years, posted for routine surgical procedure under general anaesthesia were included in the study. The cases were randomly divided into 2 groups of 54 each. Group-D:-Patients received dexmedetomidine 0.5µg/kg in 20 ml Normal saline at a rate of 120 ml / hr Infused over 10 min. Group-K:- Patient received ketamine 0.5mg/kg in 20ml Normal saline at a rate of 120ml/hr infused over 10 mins. Immediately after infusion, 1% propofol in a dose of 2mg/kg IV was given over 20 seconds. Starting from the time of injection, the patients were assessed for pain by asking an open ended question, “Does it Hurts” in every 5 seconds until the patient become unresponsive. Degree of pain score was advocated by “McCririck and Hunter Scale.