[Pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary edema caused by intravenous ketamine (author's transl)]

Induction of anaesthesia with ketamine 1.5 mg/kg i.v. in a patient with coronary artery disease caused an increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure from 27 to 65 mmHg, a threefold rise in pulmonary vascular resistance and an increase of the left ventricular filling pressure from 18 to 48 mmHg which was associated with arterial hypoxaemia due to pulmonary edema. Fentanyl (0.01 mg/kg i.v.) promptly reversed the systemic and pulmonary vascular effects of ketamine.