Ketamine infusions as an adjunct for sedation in critically ill children.

Objective: Limited reports have described ketamine's role as an adjunct sedative. The purpose was to describe ketamine's role as an adjunct to achieve goal sedation in mechanically ventilated children.

Design: Retrospective, descriptive study.

Extended Duration Ketamine Infusions in Critically Ill Children: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Ketamine is an -methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist that has been used as an adjunct analgesic and sedative in critically ill children. Previous reports noted that ketamine has been used for a variable duration of 12 to 408 hours for this indication. We report on the use of ketamine infusions for >720 hours as a second-line sedative in addition to an opioid and dexmedetomidine infusion in a 2-month old and 17-month old.