Small-Dose Ketamine’s Impact on Morphine Consumption in Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patients after Major Abdominal Surgery

Background: Surgical intensive care unit (SICU) cases re-quire persistent and efficient pain relief with insignificant ad-verse reactions, and intravenous morphine alone isn’t always effective in this situation. Adverse reactions to opioids, such as nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness, frequently restrict the pain treatment following surgery. Aim of Study: To investigate the analgesic impact of keta-mine in pain treatment following surgery as well as its effect on morphine consumption and adverse events. Patients and Methods: This prospective, randomized re-search has been performed on 100 cases scheduled to have major abdominal surgery and divided randomly into 2 groups: Group I: 50 cases received Morphine + Ketamine, and Group II: 50 patients received Morphine in Al-Azhar University from Jan. 2022 to Feb. 2023. Results: A statistically significant variance was observed among both groups according to morphine consumption and re-garding visual analogue score (VAS) at rest at 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours, while a statistically insignificant variance was observed among both groups according to side effects incidence, type of operation carried out, intraoperative dosage of sufentanil, as well as SAPS II. Conclusion: It is obvious that low-dose ketamine is safe for administration and improves analgesia following surgery. Ketamine is a drug that has the potential to decrease postoper-ative opioid consumption, pain score, and adverse effects when administered at low dosages.