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3 papers
This 2014 review describes how ketamine, an anesthetic first sold in 1970, is used today in anesthesia, pain care, and critical care. The paper says ketamine has many effects: it can raise heart rate and blood pressure, relax airways, spare breathing, and block NMDA receptors. Newer research reported possible neuroprotective,…
This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled seven randomized trials with 1760 adults seen in emergency departments (search to 21 May 2021). It found no clear difference in short-term pain scores between intranasal (IN) ketamine and IV analgesics or placebo at 5, 15, 25, 30, and 60 minutes. The need for…
This review says that low (sub-anesthetic) doses of ketamine can produce strong short-term pain relief by blocking NMDA receptors and by boosting descending pain-inhibiting pathways. It is well documented to help with pain around the time of surgery and is linked to less long-term postoperative pain and lower opioid use.…
