• Myoung-Hun Kim, Soon Yong Jung, Jung Dea Shin, Seoung Hun Lee, Min-Young Park, Kun Moo Lee, Jeong Han Lee, Kwangrae Cho, and Wonjin Lee.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
• Korean J Anesthesiol. 2014 Aug 1;67(2):85-9.

BackgroundKetamine and dexmedetomidine are commonly used for sedation and analgesia in patients. We tried to compare the effects of intravenous ketamine and dexmedetomidine infusion on spinal block with bupivacaine.MethodsNinety American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class I or II patients, who were scheduled to spinal anesthesia were randomly assigned to one of three groups (n = 30). Normal saline 10 ml, 5 ml/hr (loading dose for 10 minutes, infusion) (Group NS), dexmedetomidine 1 µg/kg, 0.5 µg/kg/hr (Group DEX), or ketamine 0.2 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg/hr (Group KET) was infused intravenously before spinal anesthesia. We recorded the time to highest sensory block level, sensory and motor regression, and hemodynamic changes.ResultsPatients in Groups KET had a significantly faster onset time of sensory block than patients in Group NS. The highest sensory block levels were not significantly different between groups. Average time of sensory regression and knee flexion, was significantly longer in the Group KET and Group DEX than the Group NS.ConclusionsIntravenous dexmedetomidine and ketamine were found to have a similar synergistic effect with intrathecal bupivacaine. Hemodynamic stability showed better results in Group KET.

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