ketamine for chronic, post-surgical, cancer, neuropathic, an
- Ketamine infusions have been studied in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), spinal cord injury, phantom limb pain, postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia, and oncologically mediated neuropathic pain Sub-anesthetic ketamine, a phencyclidine analog and dissociative anesthetic agent, was first used as a general anesthetic in the 1960s.
- For chronic pain, ketamine is purported to reverse Ketamine infusions have been used for decades to treat acute pain, but a recent surge in usage has made the infusions a mainstay of treatment in emergency departments, in the perioperative period in individuals with refractory pain, and in opioid-tolerant patients.
- Evidence supports the use of ketamine for acute pain in a variety of contexts, including as a stand-alone treatment, as an adjunct to opioids.
Schwenk ES, Viscusi ER, Buvanendran A, Hurley RW, Wasan AD, Narouze S, Bhatia A, Davis FN, Hooten WM, Cohen SP. Consensus Guidelines on the Use of Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Acute Pain Management From the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2018 Jul;43(5):456-466. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000806. PMID: 29870457; PMCID: PMC6023582.
Maher DP, Chen L, Mao J. Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Neuropathic Pain Management: A Promising Therapy in Need of Optimization. Anesth Analg. 2017 Feb;124(2):661-674. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001787. PMID: 28067704.
