ABSTRACT
Diazepam is an effective drug that is used widely in modern anesthesia. Venous irritation is one of its major side effects attributed to its acqueous insolubility and requisite solvents. There is some evidence that ketamine may acts as a local anesthetic drug, because of its effect on N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Fentanyl also may reduce the pain of diazepam injection by blocking the opiate receptors in vessels walls. To determine the effectiveness of ketamine and fentanyl in reducing the pain of diazepam injection, 150 patients (ASA I, II) were randomly assigned to one of three Groups and before intravenous diazepam injection. 2 ml normal saline, 2 ml fentanyl or 10 mg ketamine were administered for Groups 1, 2, 3 respectively. The pain of diazepam injection was then evaluated at 30 minutes intervals. Our results showed that ketamine and fentanyl reduce the pain of diazepam dramaticaly (p < 0.001) in comparison with placebo. Ketamine is more effective than fentanyl in reducing such pain (p < 0.001).
