A randomized comparison of low-dose ketamine and lignocaine infiltration with ketamine-diazepam anaesthesia for post partum tubal ligation in Vanuatu.

Ketamine remains one of the most commonly used anaesthetic agents around the world. Despite it being the anaesthetic agent of choice in many developing nations, there is a paucity of literature describing ketamine in the developing world. In what we believe is the first randomized controlled trial to be performed in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) we compared the use of ketamine 0.9 mg/kg and diazepam 0.07 mg/kg with ketamine 0.3 mg/kg and 2% lignocaine infiltration in 50 Melanesian women undergoing post partum tubal ligation. All women received 0.5 mg/kg intramuscular pethidine. Visual analog pain scores and verbal numeric satisfaction scores were similar between the groups. However the time to obeyed command was significantly faster in the 0.3 mg/kg ketamine group (7.0±4.9 vs 13.0±9.2 min). The incidence of dreaming was similar and the content rated as pleasant by both groups. In institutions where post-anaesthesia care resources are limited, 0.3 mg/kg ketamine with local anaesthesia provides for earlier self-care of patients after tubal ligation, without compromise of analgesia, emergence or satisfaction. The implications of these findings extend to other procedures that require short general anaesthesia, which can be adequately performed with low-dose ketamine and local anaesthesia. The latter technique allows more rapid awakening.