Results suggest ketamine as an adjunct analgosedative has the potential to reduce opioid exposure in postoperative and MV patients in the ICU. More RCTs are required before recommending routine use of ketamine in select populations.

A total of 13 RCTs, 5 retrospective, and 1 prospective cohort study were included (2255 participants).

The primary analysis of six RCTs demonstrated reduced opioid consumption with ketamine regimens.

No significant difference was observed in sedative consumption, duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), ICU or hospital length of stay (LOS), intracranial pressure, and mortality.

Small sample size of studies may have limited ability to detect true differences between groups.

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