Table 2.

Advantages of ketamine in anaesthesia.

Characteristic	Advantage	References
Dissociative sedation	Strong sedation and analgesia, useful for emergency in uncooperative subjects	67
High bioavailability	Rapid action, for emergency in prehospital or hospital setting	108
No direct interaction with GABA receptors	Cardiorespiratory depression is unlikely	68,69
Multiple administration routes	Useful when venous access is difficult	108
Bronchodilatory activity	Anaesthesia in patients with bronchospasm	29
Preserves haemodynamic stability	Anaesthesia in patients with congenital heart disease, shocked and hypotensive subjects	76,115,119
Analgesic activity	Useful for postoperative pain control	129–132