• Rama Wason, Nikhil Jain, Poonam Gupta, and Anoop R Gogia.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, India.
• Indian J Anaesth. 2012 Jul 1;56(4):370-5.

BackgroundShivering is a common problem during neuraxial anaesthesia. Neuraxial anaesthesia impairs thermoregulatory control and up to a 56.7% incidence of shivering has been reported.AimTo evaluate the effectiveness of prophylactic use of intravenous ketamine, clonidine and tramadol in control of shivering and to note any side-effects of the drugs used.Setting And DesignRandomised double-blind study.MethodsThis study was conducted in 200 ASA grade I and II patients. Neuraxial block was performed with 2.8 mL (14 mg) of 0.5% bupivacaine heavy in all patients. The patients were randomly allocated into four groups of 50 each to receive saline as placebo (group P), ketamine 0.5 mg/kg (group K), Clonidine 75 mcg (group C) and Tramadol 0.5 mg/kg (group T). Temperature and hemodynamic parameters were recorded at every 5-min interval. Shivering was graded from 0 to 4 grades and, if grade 3 shivering occurred, the study drug was considered as ineffective and intravenous pethidine 25 mg was given as rescue drug.Statistical AnalysisData among groups was compared using one-way ANOVA. The incidence of shivering and side-effects were compared using the chi-square test.ResultsThe incidence of grade 3 shivering showed a statistically significant difference (P=0.001) in group P (27/50) as compared with the other groups (group K=5/50, group C=2/50, group T=4/50). No drug showed any statistically significant advantage over the other. No major hemodynamic changes were seen with prophylactic use of test drugs; however, sedation score was significantly higher in group K (P<0.05) as compared with the other groups.ConclusionThe prophylactic use of ketamine, clonidine and tramadol were effective in preventing shivering during neuraxial anaesthesia without causing any major untoward side-effects.

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