Objective

To evaluate the effect of alfaxalone and methadone administered intramuscularly (IM), with or without ketamine, on sedation and echocardiographic measurements in healthy cats.

Study design

A randomized, blinded, clinical study.

Animals

A group of 24 client-owned cats.

Methods

Baseline echocardiographic evaluation (bEchoCG) was performed. Cats were given IM alfaxalone (2 mg kg^–1) and methadone (0.3 mg kg^–1) with (AMK group) or without (AM group) ketamine (1 mg kg^–1). A sedation score (0–5, indicating none to good sedation) was assigned at 5 (T5), 10 (T10) and 15 (T15) minutes after IM injection. At T15, a second echocardiographic evaluation (sEchoCG) was performed. Data are shown as median (range). Significance was p < 0.05.

Results

Finally, 21 cats were included. Sedation score was significantly higher in the AMK (11 cats) than in the AM group (10 cats): 4 (1–5) versus 0.5 (0–4) at T5 (p = 0.003); 4 (1–5) versus 1.5 (0–5) at T10 (p = 0.043); and 4 (1–5) versus 2 (0–5) at T15 (p = 0.024). All echocardiographic measurements obtained were within reference ranges. Between the groups, aortic root area (p = 0.009) and end-diastolic aortic dimension (p = 0.011) were significantly higher in the AM group at bEchoCG and sEchoCG, respectively. Within each group, values at bEchoCG and sEchoCG showed no significant differences, except for pulmonary peak velocity (0.85 m second^–1; p = 0.028) in the AMK group and ejection time (154 m second; p = 0.03) in the AM group; both variables decreased after sedation.

Conclusions and clinical relevance

In this population of healthy cats, neither protocol produced clinically meaningful effects on the echocardiographic variables evaluated. Alfaxalone with methadone produced mild sedation, whereas the addition of 1 mg kg^–1 ketamine induced adequate sedation for diagnostic procedures.

中文翻译：

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健康猫中的肌内阿法沙酮和美沙酮伴或不伴氯胺酮：对镇静和超声心动图测量的影响。

目的

为了评估在健康猫中镇静和超声心动图测量中，肌内注射阿尔法沙酮和美沙酮（有或没有氯胺酮）的效果。

学习规划

一项随机，双盲的临床研究。

动物

一组24只客户拥有的猫。

方法

进行了基线超声心动图评估（bEchoCG）。对猫给予IM阿尔法沙酮（2 mg kg ^–1）和美沙酮（0.3 mg kg ^–1）加（AMK组）或不加（AM组）氯胺酮（1 mg kg ^–1）。IM注射后第5分钟（T5），10分钟（T10）和15分钟（T15）设定镇静分数（0-5，表示无镇静作用）。在T15，进行第二次超声心动图评估（sEchoCG）。数据显示为中位数（范围）。显着性是p＜0.05。

结果

最后，包括了21只猫。AMK（11只猫）的镇静评分显着高于AM组（10只猫）：T5时4（1-5）比0.5（0-4）（p = 0.003）。T10时为4（1-5）对1.5（0-5）（p = 0.043）；在T15时分别为4（1-5）和2（0-5）（p = 0.024）。获得的所有超声心动图测量值均在参考范围内。各组之间，主动脉根部面积（p = 0.009）和舒张末期主动脉尺寸（p =AM组的bEchoCG和sEchoCG分别为0.011）。在每个组中，bEchoCG和sEchoCG的值无显着差异，除了AMK组的肺峰值速度（0.85 m秒^–1；p = 0.028）和AM组的射血时间（154 m秒；p = 0.03）以外。 ; 镇静后，两个变量均降低。

结论与临床意义

在这只健康猫的种群中，两种方案均未对所评估的超声心动图变量产生临床上有意义的影响。阿法沙酮与美沙酮可产生轻度镇静作用，而1 mg kg ^–1氯胺酮的添加则可为诊断程序提供足够的镇静作用。