Abstract: Objective To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of intravenous ketamine for emergence agitation (EA) in children. Methods PubMed, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang, and SinoMed database were searched from database establishment to Match 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCT) about intravenous ketamine for EA in children. The subjects in the literature search were children who were scheduled to undergo surgery/examination under general anesthesia, regardless of gender, without abnormalities in cognitive function and mental status. Clinical data were collected from the ketamine group and the control group included in the literature. Children in the ketamine group were intravenously injected with ketamine during the perioperative period, while those in the control group received placebo or blank control. After retrieval, literature screening, data extraction and quality evaluation were performed. The outcomes included the incidences of EA, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and low oxygen saturation, as well as the length of post anesthesia care unit (PACU) stay and postoperative pain score. The Meta‑analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.3. Results A total of 19 articles involving 1 532 patients were included. The Meta‑analysis showed that the incidence of EA in the ketamine group was significantly lower than that in the control group [relative risk (RR)=0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.31, 0.45), P<0.001]. There was no statistical difference in the incidence of PONV between the two groups [odds ratio (OR) =1.19, 95%CI (0.81, 1.75), P=0.380]. There was no statistical difference in the incidence of low oxygen saturation between the two groups [OR=0.79, 95%CI (0.38, 1.67), P=0.540]. There was no significant difference in the length of PACU time between the two groups [mean difference (MD)=1.44, 95%CI (−0.52, 3.40), P=0.150]. The postoperative pain scores of children in the ketamine group were significantly lower than those in the control group [MD=−2.13, 95%CI (−3.34, −0.91), P<0.001]. The funnel plot in the Meta‑analysis based on EA incidence suggested a small publication bias. Conclusions Intravenous ketamine can reduce the incidence of EA in children, and cannot increase the incidence of PONV and hypoxemia, but the effect on postoperative pain and the length of PACU stay remains to be evaluated.
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