Ketamine-Diazepam Protocol for Intravenous Sedation: The Cosmetic Surgery Hospital Experience

Abstract

Rising hospital costs and operating room scheduling difficulties have influenced plastic surgeons to rely more often on intravenous sedation in office surgical settings. The use of ketamine as an intravenous sedation agent has enjoyed some popularity, but this has been far from universal. Its reputation for producing psychological sequelae such as nightmares, flashbacks and schizophrenic-like reactions have made many anesthesiologists and plastic surgeons reluctant to use this drug. The authors’ experience using a ketamine/diazepam protocol with approximately 11,400 patients since 1971 at the Cosmetic Surgery Hospital in Woodbridge, Ontario is presented. The methodology consists of intravenous diazepam followed with low-dose ketamine (0.5 mg/kg to a maximum of 40 mg) 2 min later. This provides the surgeon with a period of profound amnesia to allow for infiltration of the local anesthetic. It is this local anesthetic delivered during the dissociative state that provides prolonged analgesia throughout the surgery. The patient is maintained throughout the procedure with increments of diazepam and midazolam. This protocol is found to be effective, reliable and reproducible, and the experience of the patient and plastic surgeon has been overwhelmingly favourable.