ON THE ROLE OF SUB-ANESTHETIC KETAMINE FOR POST-OPERATIVE ANALGESIA FOLLOWING THIRD MOLAR SURGERY

Abstract

The role of ketamine in post-operative pain following third molar surgery is unclear. Therefore, one hundred and thirty-four patients were enrolled into a randomized double-blinded clinical trial to investigate if patients undergoing third molar surgery who receive a sub-anesthetic pre-operative dose of intravenous ketamine will experience less post-operative pain. The primary outcome was post-operative pain intensity as determined by 10-point visual analogue scales (VAS) during the first 48-hours post-op. The secondary outcome was post-operative non-opioid and opioid consumption. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis, and regression analysis. There was a small, yet statistically significant (P<0.05) difference in median pain score at 6-hours post-operatively with the ketamine group experiencing more pain. However, no further differences were detected at any post-operative time between groups. Overall, this study did not find evidence that pre-operative sub-anesthetic ketamine reduced pain following third molar surgery, nor had any effects on non-opioid or opioid analgesic consumption.