Anesthesia for major intra-abdominal and intrathoracic surgical procedures in 174 patients, one-half of whom were over 60 years of age, was provided by a technique combining the use of ketamine, nitrous oxide (N2O), and oxygen (O2) with d-tubocurarine (DTC). Patients were interviewed by one of the two investigators in the recovery room and 24 to 48 hours following operation. Psychotomimetic reactions were reported in 13 of the 174 patients (7.5 percent). All hallucinations described were visual, typically psychedelic-colored lights, and were equally divided between the two groups. Only 2 of the 13 patients reporting psychotomimetic reactions were suspected by the nursing personnel of having psychic aberrations, and none of the patients presented any difficulty in management This technique seems worthy of further study.
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Vaughan et al. (1974) studied this question.