Context: When we never induce anesthesia in a struggling adult patient, fearing hypertensive response, we never bother to properly sedate the pediatric patient before bringing the child to operation theatre. Aims: To
Compare combination of midazolam and ketamine with midazolam or ketamine alone as oral preanesthetic medication in children undergoing elective surgeries. Settings and Designs: Hospital based comparative study was carried out at Department of Anesthesiology, SVS Medical College, Mahabubnagar Methods: 150 children of ASA Grade I and II in the age group of 2–10 years were included in the study and were randomly divided into three groups of 50 each. Group A received 0.5 mg/kg Midazolam in 5 ml orange syrup, Group B received Ketamine 6 mg/kg while Group C received a combination of oral Midazolam 0.5 mg/kg and oral Ketamine 3 mg/kg in 5 ml orange syrup. Statistical Analysis: The statistical analysis done by Chi-square test. Results: In
Group A, 58% children were adequately sedated and 72% children were having an acceptable anxiolysis and\ parental separation scores. In Group B, acceptable sedation, anxiolysis and behavior at parental separation was obtained in 52% children. Group C shows an acceptable sedation in 68% children. Acceptable anxiolysis was observed in 82% of children. 80% children were calm with parental separation. Side effects were mainly seen in Ketamine group with 14% children showing nystagmus and 10% of children had excessive salivation. 8% children in Ketamine Group also developed hallucination. Conclusion: The present study showed that oral premedication with Midazolam 0.5 mg/kg alone produces as good results as the combination of Midazolam 0.5 mg/kg and Ketamine 3 mg/kg in children.