A study of the protective effect and mechanism of ketamine on acute lung injury induced by mechanical ventilation

W.-F. Wang, S. Liu, B. Xu

Department of Respiratory Medicine, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China. weifang_wang1@163.com

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• Pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects and mechanism of ketamine on acute lung injury induced by mechanical ventilation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 63 patients with acute lung injury caused by mechanical ventilation in our hospital between June 2014 and May 2015 were chosen and divided into three groups: group A, B, and C. Group A (20 cases) received conventional treatment. Group B (21 cases) was treated with propofol and group C (22 cases) with ketamine. The ventilator application time, the success rate of weaning, the mortality rate, inflammation index (IL-1, Caspase-1, and NF-κB), pulmonary function index and oxygen saturation were compared.

RESULTS: The ventilator application time and the mortality rate of group B and group C were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those of group A. The success rate of weaning of groups B and C was higher (p < 0.05) than that of group A. There was no difference between groups B and C. After intervention, the levels of PaO2 and SpO2 in the three groups increased, while the level of PaCO2decreased with better improvement in group B and group C than in group A (p < 0.05), groups B and C being similar (p > 0.05). After the intervention, the levels of FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FVC and PEER in the three groups increased, but more remarkably in group B and group C (p < 0.05), in which there was no difference.

After the intervention, the levels of IL-1β, Caspase-1, and NF-κB in the three groups decreased with the levels of group C obviously lower (p < 0.05) than those of groups B and A, the highest.

CONCLUSIONS: Both ketamine and propofol can improve the blood gas and pulmonary function index of patients with acute lung injury caused by mechanical ventilation. They shorten the application time of ventilator, improve the success rate of weaning and reduce the mortality rate which is probably related to the reduction of the degree of inflammatory reaction. Ketamine is more effective in reducing inflammatory factors including IL-1β, Caspase-1, and NF-κB than propofol.

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