Objetive:

Determine if the subanesthetic dose ketamine decreases acute pain, agitation, analgesic requirements in cardiac catheterization.

Material and methods:

Patients aged two months to seven years, general anesthesia, ASA II-IV. Two groups K: ketamine and F: fentanyl plus painkiller; sevoflurane 1-1.2 CAM and mechanical ventilation. Registration baseline vital signs, the initiation and emergence. FLACC and Ramsay evaluation in the emergence and reach bed, painkiller was administered FLACC > 4.

Results:

121 patients, K group: 52.8%, group F: 47%, age: 47 ± 26.38 months, anesthetic time: 100.22 ± 38.7 min. Cardiovascular variables without intergroup difference in relation to time. Analgesia requirement at six hours in the K group vs F 10 hours. FLACC emergence mild to 86.8%; 49% K group and 37% F group (p = 0.02), 92% FLACC minor in bed, group K 52% and 40.4% F group (p = 0.002). At six hours FLACC > 4 K group (p = 0.002). Degree of sedation to extubation is lower in group K (p = 0.03).

Conclusions:

Ketamine preserves hemodynamic stability, decreases agitation and pain until the first six hours after procedure; so it can be used as adjuvant anesthetic in catheterizations safely.