Background: Endotracheal intubation for inhalation anaesthesia in pigs is not considered a good anaesthetic method as it is technically difficult because of oral anatomy and the presence of excess tissues in the oropharyngeal region. Moreover, the major limitation of inhalation anaesthesia is that it requires the use of a cumbersome and costly anaesthetic machine, including a suitable breathing system and vaporizer and is the exposure of operating-room personnel to the pollution in the ambient air. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of propofol, ketamine and their combination ‘Ketofol’ as a TIVA in pigs.
Methods: The study was conducted in eighteen piglets of either sex. The piglets were randomly divided into three groups with six animals in each group. All the three groups were premedicated with Atropine sulphate @ 0.04mg/kg body weight and Xylazine Hydrochloride @ 1mg/kg body weight I.M. and Medazolam @ 0.5mg/kg body weight I.M. with minimum forcible restraint as pre-anaesthetic. In group-I, propofol @ 5mg/kg body weight, in group-II, ketamine @ 5mg/kg body weight and in group-III, ketofol @ 4mg/kg body weight was administered intravenously for induction after 15 minutes of pre-anaesthetic administration. Surgical anaesthesia was maintained for 90 minutes in all three groups viz. group-I, group-II and group-III with propofol @ 2.5mg/kg, ketamine @ 2.5mg/kg and ketofol @ 2mg/kg body weight respectively by intermittent bolus injection (IBI) technique. Clinical and cardiopulmonary profiles were evaluated before administration of the anaesthetic agent (0 minutes) then at 15, 30, 60 and 90 minutes during and after administration of anaesthetic agents to evaluate their anaesthetic effect.
Result: The study revealed that induction time (IT), duration of analgesia (DOA), duration of recumbency (DOR) and recovery time (RT) interval showed better result in the combination of ketamine and propofol group as compared to propofol and ketamine-induced individual group. The temperature and respiration rate was significantly decreased in all the groups at 30 minutes during TIVA whereas heart rate was significantly increased in all the groups at 15 minutes. The combination of ketamine and propofol group showed a consistent diastolic pressure and systolic pressure during the entire period of anaesthesia. The SPO2 in the ketamine-induced group showed a significant decrease (P<0.01) as compared to the propofol and ketofol group. It was concluded that the anaesthetic drug combinations resulted in smooth and uneventful induction with mild cardiopulmonary depressions and rapid recovery.
