Abstract
Providers face many challenges when faced with pain management. Pain is complex, difficult
to understand and diagnose, and especially enigmatic to manage. The discovery of nonopioid
agents for pain management has become particularly important considering the ongoing
opioid epidemic. This review is focused on revisiting ketamine, an agent that has
historically been used for anesthesia, in new ways to manage pain. Ketamine has unique
pharmacologic properties that may prevent the development of pain as well as reduce
chronic pain. This has led to the use of ketamine for perioperative analgesia as well
as chronic pain syndromes. In select patients with pain refractory to other treatment
modalities, ketamine may provide much needed relief.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 03, 2018
Pharmacology Series Editor, Rhonda M. Cooper-DeHoff, PharmD, MSFootnotes
Funding: None.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing and revising this manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
