The Impact of Preoperative Positive Suggestions on Dreaming With Intravenous Sedation: A Randomized Controlled, Blinded Trial
Anesthesia & Analgesia November 24, 2025 Donggeon Lee, Hayoung Lee, Cheol-Hyeong Lee et al.
Ketamine produces drug-induced dream recall more often than propofol during intravenous sedation for upper extremity surgery, and preoperative positive suggestions do not increase how often people remember dreams but do make the dreams more pleasant. In a randomized controlled trial with 188 adults, dream recall occurred in 23.4% of those given propofol and 40.4% of those given ketamine. Suggestions did not significantly affect recall frequency (35.1% with suggestions vs. 28.7% without). Ketamine also made dreams more emotionally intense and stranger than propofol did, while suggestions made dreams more pleasant regardless of which drug was used.