KETAMINE ANESTHESIA FOR ELECTROCOCHLEOGRAPHY IN CHILDREN - ARE PSYCHIC SIDE-EFFECTS REALLY RARE

Retrospectively, we have studied the occurrence of psychic side effect s in 121 children (median age 2.25 years) who have had ketamine anaest hesia for electrocochleography. For comparison, the same questionnaire was given to 66 children who had had ketamine for the surgery of squi nts. Early signs of psychic disturbance (<3 days) were equally frequen t in the two groups, whereas late (>3 days) nightmare was most common in the patients undergoing cochleography (17% vs 5%). In several cases , signs of nightmare were reported by the parents to have lasted for m onths or even years. There was a significant (p = 0.00019) correlation between the occurrence of nightmare and the degree of hearing impairm ent. The frequency of late nightmare reported in the cochleography pat ients is unacceptably high, but as numerous possibilities of bias exis t further investigations are necessary before conclusions can be safel y drawn.