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The Emerging Role of Ketamine in Acute Postoperative Pain Management

  • Acute Pain Medicine (R Urman, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Postoperative pain (POP) is among the most unpleasant experiences that patients face after surgery. Interest in and use of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists for the management of POP has increased over the years with ketamine being the most popular drug of this class.

Recent Findings

Several randomized controlled trials found that the use of ketamine either alone or in combination with other medications leads to decreased postoperative pain and opioid consumption. However, there are other studies that have not found these benefits. The results as of now suggest that the role of intraoperative ketamine in postoperative pain control varies among different operative procedures.

Summary

While some studies have shown promise in ketamine’s potential use as a postoperative analgesic, there is still a great deal of proposed research and randomized controlled trials needed to deduce the most efficacious and tolerable form and dose of ketamine.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Amber N. Edinoff

  2. Louisiana Addiction Research Center, Shreveport, LA, 71103, USA

    Amber N. Edinoff, Elyse M. Cornett. & Alan D. Kaye

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1415 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Dorothy Askins

  4. Tulane University School of Medicine, 1415 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Elena Bobo

  5. School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, 71103, USA

    Kathryn L. White & Zahaan Eswani

  6. University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA

    Eric D. Jackson & Danielle M. Wenger

  7. Department of Anesthesiology, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Ave # 9, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Aaron J. Kaye

  8. Department of Anesthesiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, 71103, USA

    Elyse M. Cornett. & Alan D. Kaye

  9. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, 95211, USA

    Adam M. Kaye

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  1. Amber N. Edinoff
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Contributions

A.N.E was responsible for the conceptualization of this manuscript. A.N.E., D.A., E.B., K.L.W., E.Z. were responsible for the writing of the original manuscript. A.N.E., E.D.J, D.M.W., E.M.C., A.M.K., and A.D.K. were responsible for all revisions of the manuscript. All authors give consent the publication of this manuscript in this journal.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amber N. Edinoff.

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This narrative review did not require consent from subjects or review by an institutional review board.

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The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Edinoff, A.N., Askins, D., Bobo, E. et al. The Emerging Role of Ketamine in Acute Postoperative Pain Management. Curr Pain Headache Rep 27, 387–397 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01134-1

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