Evaluation of Ketamine/Midazolam Sedation vs. Fentanyl/Midazolam Sedation for Image-Guided Percutaneous Procedures in Interventional Radiology

This project will provide the following major innovations:

• Improve patient experience and satisfaction: Prospective demonstration that ketamine/midazolam results in decreased peri-procedure pain scores and increased satisfaction scores would justify the use of deep sedation in IR and potentially benefit thousands of patients undergoing painful procedures in IR units across the country.
• Demonstrate the safety and feasibility of ketamine/midazolam sedation administered by IR providers: Showing that performing IR procedures with ketamine/midazolam is as safe or safer than performing the same procedures with fentanyl/midazolam will increase the scope of cases that IR providers can perform without the direct assistance of anesthesia providers and need for recovery in post-anesthesia care units.
• Provide high level data to justify creation of societal guidelines: One barrier to IR physicians performing deep sedation may be an inability to obtain hospital privileges. Emergency medicine physicians have created societal guidelines to describe the use of deep sedation, enabling successful credentialing. Publishing high quality studies showing safety and efficacy would provide a framework for IR-specific practice guidelines.

The aims of the study are as follows:

Aim 1: Prospectively compare pain and satisfaction scores in patients undergoing IR procedures with either fentanyl/midazolam or ketamine/midazolam. Patients undergoing image-guided biopsy and drainage procedures will be randomized to receive fentanyl/midazolam or ketamine/midazolam. Patients' pain will be rated using the validated 10-point Numeric Rating Scale before, during and after the procedure, and be given questionnaires based on validated anesthesia satisfaction surveys after the procedure to assess their perception of the sedation regimen. Patient groups will be compared in terms of differences on pain scores and the satisfaction survey using two-tailed Mann-Whitney tests.

Aim 2: Prospectively compare the safety of using fentanyl/midazolam or ketamine/midazolam for sedation during IR procedures. Patient groups will be compared in terms of procedure-related adverse events (e.g., hemorrhage, pneumothorax) and sedation-related adverse events (e.g., respiratory compromise) using Fisher's exact tests.

Inclusion criteria

• Planned to undergo image-guided bone biopsy, lung biopsy, or percutaneous drainage
• Eligible to receive ketamine or fentanyl sedation
• Any sex/gender, any race
• Aged 18-89

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnant/lactating
• Incarceration
• Currently taking an opioid agonist/antagonist
• Food consumed in past 6-8 hours
• Allergies to drugs used in the study
• Lacks mental capacity for reporting pain scores
• Hypotension or respiratory failure precluding fentanyl sedation
• Uncontrolled hypertension precluding ketamine sedation
• Condition for which hypertension would be a concern
• Schizophrenia