KETAMINE PLUS MIDAZOLAM, A MOST EFFECTIVE PEDIATRIC ORAL PREMEDICANT

Healthy children, 1.5 to seven years old, were divided into three grou ps bf 20 each. Group 1 received midazolam 0.5 mg . kg(-1), Group 2, ke tamine 6 mg . kg(-1) and Group 3 a mixture of midazolam 0.4 mg . kg(-1 ) + ketamine 4 mg . kg(-1). Each dose was mixed with atropine 0.02 mg . kg(-1) plus an equal volume of cherry syrup and was given orally 20 to 30 min prior to surgery. A grade of 1 (asleep, difficult to arouse) , 2 (asleep, easily aroused), 3 (awake, calm), 4 (awake, anxious, occa sional cry), or 5 (crying, agitated), was assigned at the time of pare ntal separation and again when mask induction was begun. A grade of 1- 3 was considered successful. For parental separation, the mixture of k etamine + midazolam was 100% successful, ketamine 90% and midazolam 75 %. Successful mask induction for the mixture of ketamine + midazolam w as 85%, midazolam 65% and ketamine 42%. This study indicates that a mi xture of ketamine + midazolam is the most effective.