Repeated exposure to anesthetic ketamine can negatively impact neurodevelopment in infants: a prospective preliminary clinical study.

Animal experiments indicate that repeated exposure to ketamine adversely affects the developing brain. Whether it has the same effect on infants remains unclear. We recruited infants who were scheduled for 1 to 3 outpatient laser surgery treatments of benign facial growths with ketamine anesthesia. Patients were assigned to the Ket(1), Ket(2), or Ket(3) group, according to the number of treatments. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (BSID-II) was used to assess neurodevelopmental outcomes before the first and after the last therapy. Levels of S-100β were also measured. Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition scores after the last procedure were lower than those before the first surgery in the Ket(3) group (P < .05). S-100β levels after the last procedure were significantly higher than those before the first surgery in all groups (P < .05). Our results suggest that 3 or more exposures to anesthetic ketamine have the potential to adversely affect neurodevelopment in infants.