Dexmedetomidine versus ketamine in improving tolerance to noninvasive ventilation after blunt chest trauma: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.
Huda F Ghazaly, Mohamed M Elansary, Ahmed A Mahmoud, Mohamed K Hasanen, Mahmoud Hassan
Journal of anaesthesiology, clinical pharmacology 2024 DOI: 10.4103/joacp.joacp_145_23 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Placebo-controlled Double-blind Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 45 |
| Population | Adults aged 18–60 with blunt chest trauma needing noninvasive ventilation |
| Interventions | Dexmedetomidine Ketamine Placebo (0.9% sodium chloride solution) |
| Duration | Two successive NIV sessions |
| Topics | Ketamine Esketamine |
| Keywords | Blunt chest trauma Dexmedetomidine Non-invasive ventilation Pain management Trauma care Sedation Respiratory support Critical care medicine |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Dexmedetomidine did not significantly lengthen NIV sessions compared to ketamine, but both sedatives improved tolerance over placebo, with dexmedetomidine providing deeper sedation and ketamine offering better pain control and less rescue morphine. |
Abstract
Even though patient tolerance is critical to the success of noninvasive ventilation (NIV), research on using sedation to improve tolerance to NIV after traumatic chest injuries is limited. We hypothesized that dexmedetomidine would be superior to ketamine in terms of patient tolerance and lengthening the NIV sessions after blunt chest trauma. This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial included 45 patients of both genders aged 18-60 who needed NIV after blunt chest trauma. The patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups (n = 15) for receiving dexmedetomidine, ketamine, or placebo (0.9% sodium chloride solution) infusion to maintain a Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) score between 0 and - 3 during two successive NIV sessions. Patients were evaluated for the duration of the NIV sessions, RASS, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the total amount of rescue analgesia consumed. The mean duration of the NIV sessions was significantly longer in patients who received dexmedetomidine (P 0.05). The dexmedetomidine group had a significantly lower RASS score compared to the ketamine (P < 0.001) and placebo (P < 0.001) groups, whereas the ketamine group had a significantly lower VAS compared to the dexmedetomidine (P = 0.005) and placebo (P = 0.022) groups and required significantly less total morphine (P = 0.001) compared to the other groups. The duration of the NIV sessions for patients with blunt chest trauma did not differ significantly between the dexmedetomidine and ketamine groups.