Intravenous Ketamine Infusion on Postoperative Analgesia of Living Liver Donors

Because of the insufficiency of cadaveric organs and increasing need for organs, the interest in living donor liver transplantation have been greatly increased. The relative reduction of the remaining liver after the operation in Living Liver Donors makes it difficult and compelling to choose a very effective and very safe method in the management of postoperative analgesia. Opioids are the main agents used in the postoperative analgesia of Live Liver Donors. Opioids have serious side effects such as respiratory depression, apnea, circulatory collapse, coma, and death. Both short-term and long-term administration of opioids cause acute opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, has been hypothesized to counter opioid tolerance and NMDA receptor-mediated central sensitization. Various studies and systematic reviews have shown that low-dose ketamine has an opioid-sparing effect in all surgical patients. Although low-dose ketamine has been shown to be beneficial overall in relieving pain, it is unclear whether it has an identified benefit in hepatectomy cases. The aim of this clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of low-dose ketamine administration on postoperative analgesia in living donor liver donors undergoing right hepatectomy procedure.