Ketamine: an old drug revitalized in pain medicine

Abstract

Ketamine is an anaesthetic drug with unique properties. Discovered in the 1960s, it is known to produce a dissociative state with sedation, amnesia, and analgesia. It has relatively less respiratory and cardiovascular depressive effects, and as pharyngeal and laryngeal reflexes are preserved, it makes an attractive option in ambulatory and battlefield anaesthesia. However, concerns over ketamine's psychodysleptic effects had caused it to fall out of favour in the 1980s. In the 1990s, there was a renewed interest in ketamine as an adjuvant analgesic, after the discovery of its anti-tolerant and anti-hyperalgesic effects. Currently, ketamine is being actively studied for potential use in acute and chronic pain conditions, especially where pain management is difficult with conventional treatments like opioids.