Adjunctive Ketamine for Sedation in Critically Ill Mechanically Ventilated Patients: An Active-Controlled, Pilot, Feasibility Clinical Trial
medRxiv Preprint Server – April 26, 2021
Source: medRxiv
Summary
Critically ill patients often require extensive sedation. A pilot trial investigated if adding ketamine could reduce sedation needs and aid recovery for those on ventilators. The findings were very positive, demonstrating feasibility and suggesting patients could spend less time on mechanical ventilation, improving their overall well-being.
Abstract
Objective Ketamine has been shown to decrease sedative requirements in intensive care unit (ICU). Randomized trials are limited on patient-centered outcomes. We designed this pilot clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility of using ketamine as an adjunct analgosedative compared with standard of care (SOC) alone and determine preliminary effect size on 28-day mechanical ventilation (MV) duration and ventilator-free days (VFDs).