Analgesia for the Change of Dressing in Burn Victims: A Comparison Between Oral Ketamine and Oral Dexmedetomidine

Objective: To compare the efficacy of oral ketamine with oral dexmedetomidine for providing adequate analgesia for change of dressing in burn patients in burn dressing room. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was carried out in Jinnah Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Center, Lahore, from April 2019 to September 2019 after getting the approval from the Ethical Committee of Jinnah Hospital / Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore. 80 patients between 20 to 50 years, with 1st and 2nd degree burns and 20 to 40% of total body surface area involved were allocated in two groups A and B. The patients in group A received oral ketamine at a dose of 5mg/kg in 15 ml of water 30 mins while those in group B received dexmedetomidine, 4 ug/kg orally, in 15 ml of water 30 mins before the start of dressing change. The change of dressing was carried out with continuous vital monitoring. Pain was assessed via visual analogue scale (VAS) and sedation via Ramsay sedation score. All the observations were recorded on the predesigned proforma. SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis. Result: The baseline mean VAS score of patients in group A was 7.67 + 0.55 and in group B was 7.70 + 0.57 (p value = 0.799). Significant decrease in pain score in both groups was noted after 30 mins of drugs administration (p=0.000). Also a significant difference in pain scores was seen between the two groups (p< 0.05), with the patients in group A having lower pain scores as compared to patients in group B. Conclusion: both ketamine and dexmedetomidine provide adequate analgesia for the change of burn dressing when administered orally with ketamine providing better analgesic state as compared to dexmedetomidine. Key Words: Burn, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, analgesia. How to cite: Sohail F., Bangash R.L., Azim W., Arshad F, Anwar A., Niazi K.A. Analgesia for the Change of Dressing in Burn Victims: A Comparison between Oral Ketamine and Oral Dexmedetomidine. Esulapio 2021;17(01):39-44