A Comparative Study on the Effect of Intravenous Hydrocortisone and Ketamine on Reducing Shivering after Spinal Anesthesia in Cesarean Section: A Double-blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Shivering is rhythmic vibratory motions in one or more group of muscle that caused after general or local anesthesia. Prevention and early treatment of Shivering lead to not conflict with patient monitoring and also reduce cardio-respiratory and metabolic side effects in patients. The aim of this study is comparing effect of ketamine and hydrocortisone on reducing post spinal shivering.
In this prospective study, 150 pregnant women randomly were divided into three groups after Spinal anesthesia. Patients received 3cc hydrocortisone (2 mg/kg, A group), 3cc ketamine (0.5 mg/kg, B group) and 3cc normal saline (%0.9, C group) intravenously in 10-15 S duration after umbilical cord clamping. In all patients systolic and diastolic pressure, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation level and body temperature were recorded before anesthesia and then every minute for 5 minutes, every 5 minutes for 15 minutes, every 10 minutes until the end of surgery. Also sedation score, hallucination, nausea and vomiting, intensity of shivering and using amount of pethidine and ephedrine were recorded in questionnaire.
All three groups were similar in basic blood pressure, sensory and motor level. The rate of shivering in hydrocortisone group was significantly lower than control group (P=0.000). The rate of shivering in ketamine group was significantly lower than control group (P=0.00). Also the rate of shivering in hydrocortisone group was significantly higher than ketamine group (P=0.004).
Intravenous Hydrocortisone and ketamine are effective in reducing shivering occurring after spinal anesthesia in the cesarean surgery, however ketamine is significantly more effective than hydrocortisone in shivering control.