Anaesthetic techniques for surgical correction of fractured neck of femur. A comparative study of ketamine and relaxant anaesthesia in elderly women

Abstract

Ketamine has been compared with 'relaxant' anaesthesia in operations for fractured neck of femur in elderly women. Ketamine was found to reduce early mortality principally by a reduction in thromboembolic complications, but at the expense of more unsatisfactory surgical results. It is suggested that the mortality after relaxant anaesthesia for these operations is unacceptable.