Effects of brotizolam as a co-agent with ketamine for induction of anesthesia in calves
Brotizolam IV at 2 /kg worsened induction quality of anesthesia with ketamine
Anesthesia in food producing animals in the EU and UK is legally limited to a narrow choice of drugs, the only licensed benzodiazepine being brotizolam. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of brotizolam as a co-agent with ketamine on the quality of induction, intubation, muscle relaxation and recovery from isoflurane anesthesia.
Seventeen calves were enrolled in this prospective, blinded, randomized experimental study. Calves were sedated with 0.05 mg/kg xylazine and 0.1 mg/kg butorphanol IV. After assessing the quality of sedation, anesthesia was induced with 2 mg/kg ketamine (group KETA) or 2 mg/kg ketamine with 2 μg/kg brotizolam IV (group BROTI).
An additional 1 mg/kg ketamine was administered via IV every two min until intubation was possible. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in a mixture of oxygen and air. The amount of ketamine required, quality of induction, intubation, muscle relaxation, and recovery were scored and compared between groups using ordinal regression models (P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant).
Sedation scores did not differ significantly between groups but were positively associated with the quality of recovery (P = 0.0098). Group BROTI was associated with a lower quality of induction (P < 0.0001), intubation (P = 0.0203) and muscle relaxation (P = 0.0043). The sedation score and treatment had no effect on the number of attempts of intubation, additional ketamine doses, time to extubation and recovery time.
Brotizolam had a negative effect on the quality of induction, intubation, and muscle relaxation compared to ketamine alone. In conclusion, the authors do not recommend using brotizolam under these circumstances.
O. d'Anselme et al. “Effects of brotizolam as a co-agent with ketamine for induction of anaesthesia in calves.” Vet J. 2023 Mar; 293:105957. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2023.105957.
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