UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Toxicology

Title: Ketofol

Keywords: sedation, propofol, ketamine (PubMed Search)

Posted: 6/5/2008 by Ellen Lemkin, MD, PharmD (Emailed: 6/9/2008) (Updated: 3/29/2024)
Click here to contact Ellen Lemkin, MD, PharmD

"Ketofol" (Ketamine plus propofol)

  • Given for conscious sedation, for all age groups
  • Takes advantage of properties of both agents
  • Ketamine generally produces hypertension, does NOT produce respiratory depression, has an emergence phenomena, and has analgesic properties
  • Propofol causes hypotension and respiratory depression, has NO analgesic properties, and may blunt both nausea and emergence phenomena seen with ketamine
  • Given as a 1:1 ratio of ketamine and propofol, both 10 mg/ml
  • Dose is usually 1-3 ml aliquots; median dose in a recent study was 0.75 mg/kg
  • Median recovery 15 minutes (5-45 minutes; 80% recovered in less than 20 minutes)

References

  1. Annals of Pharmacotherapy. Mar 2007;41(3):485-92
  2. Ann Emerg Med 2007;49:23-30