Effect of Intraoperative Intravenous Ketamine Infusion on Postoperative Analgesia in Right Hepatectomy of Living Liver Donors

Liver transplantation is the only treatment for end-stage liver failure. The insufficiency of cadaveric organs and the inability to meet the increasing need for organs with cadaveric transplantations have greatly increased the interest in living donor liver transplantation. The relative reduction of the remaining liver after the operation in Living Liver Donors makes it difficult and compelling to choose a very effective and very safe method in the management of postoperative analgesia.

Opioids are the main agents used in the postoperative analgesia of Live Liver Donors. Opioids have serious side effects such as respiratory depression, apnea, circulatory collapse, coma, and death. Both short-term and long-term administration of opioids cause acute opioid-induced hyperalgesia.

There is evidence that opioid tolerance can occur in the dorsal root ganglion through N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, has been hypothesized to counter opioid tolerance and NMDA receptor-mediated central sensitization. Low-dose ketamine is an effective adjuvant in painful orthopedic procedures that reduces pain and opioid need, especially in the first 24 hours after the procedure. Various studies and systematic reviews have shown that low-dose ketamine has an opioid-sparing effect in all surgical patients.

Although low-dose ketamine has been shown to be beneficial overall in relieving pain, it is unclear whether it has an identified benefit in hepatectomy cases. The aim of this randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of low-dose ketamine administration on postoperative analgesia in living donor liver donors undergoing a painful right hepatectomy procedure.