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7 papers
Ketamine has been used as a safe anesthetic for more than 50 years and also works well for pain relief. The active form is S(+)-ketamine and it is mainly broken down into an active metabolite called norketamine. Ketamine blocks NMDA receptors in the brain, which helps explain its special effects…
Ketamine, an anaesthetic, can reduce chronic pain, especially pain with nerve damage. Low doses give strong pain relief, probably by blocking NMDA receptors. Short infusions tend to help only while the drug is given, but three studies found that longer infusions (4–14 days) produced pain relief lasting up to 3…
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,…
Researchers reviewed many studies on ketamine for depression and found that we still do not have firm answers about the best dose, how fast to give it, which way to give it, how long to treat, or how often to give treatments. Most studies used 0.5 mg/kg given over about…
Twelve children (ages 8–21) with chronic pain received oral ketamine three times a day for 14 days at doses between 0.25 and 1.5 mg/kg per dose to test short-term safety and see if pain improved. Two children at the highest dose (1.5 mg/kg) had dose-limiting side effects (sedation and anorexia),…
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…
Researchers gave a low dose of esketamine through an IV before general anesthesia to 200 adults having planned orthopedic surgery. They compared 100 people who got esketamine with 100 who got a saline placebo. The esketamine group showed smaller rises in inflammatory proteins after surgery, higher levels of antibodies, less…
