School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations
Efficacy of Outpatient Ketamine Infusions in Different Chronic Pain Conditions
Poster Number
179
Document Type
Poster
Status
Medical Student
Abstract Category
Clinical Specialties
Keywords
ketamine, chronic pain, anesthesia, neuropathic pain
Publication Date
Spring 2018
Abstract
Ketamine, an NMDA antagonist, has shown to be effective in chronic pain relief (1, 2, 3). This study seeks to examine the efficacy of outpatient ketamine infusions in patients with various chronic pain diagnoses.
We examined data on patients undergoing ketamine infusions, subdividing patients based on their pain diagnosis into nonexclusive categories: neuropathic pain, generalized pain, chronic postoperative pain, and chronic pain with a psychiatric diagnosis. Patients completed the Brief Pain Inventory prior to 1-day or 3-day outpatient ketamine infusions and again 2-4 weeks after the infusions. We measured pain scores pre and post infusions and on follow up visit.
A random effects mixed model was used to test the time effect for pain and accounted for within-subject autocorrelation of the pain scores.
There were 224 patients: 143 patients with neuropathic pain (64%), 49 with generalized pain (22%), 80 with chronic post-op pain (36%), and 63 with psychiatric diagnoses (28%). There was a significant drop in mean pain level from pre to post infusion (p<.0001) for all diagnoses, with the mean pain level dropping from 7.6 (95% confidence interval 6.8 to 8.5) to 6.8 (95% ci 6.0 to 7.7) after adjusting for covariates.
Outpatient ketamine infusions significantly improved outcome measures in patients with each of the above diagnosis groups. Closer analysis shows that improvement in various quality of life measures differed amongst chronic pain conditions.
Further study with larger sample groups may help elucidate ketamine’s broad therapeutic effect in treating chronic pain.
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Open Access
1
Efficacy of Outpatient Ketamine Infusions in Different Chronic Pain Conditions
Ketamine, an NMDA antagonist, has shown to be effective in chronic pain relief (1, 2, 3). This study seeks to examine the efficacy of outpatient ketamine infusions in patients with various chronic pain diagnoses.
We examined data on patients undergoing ketamine infusions, subdividing patients based on their pain diagnosis into nonexclusive categories: neuropathic pain, generalized pain, chronic postoperative pain, and chronic pain with a psychiatric diagnosis. Patients completed the Brief Pain Inventory prior to 1-day or 3-day outpatient ketamine infusions and again 2-4 weeks after the infusions. We measured pain scores pre and post infusions and on follow up visit.
A random effects mixed model was used to test the time effect for pain and accounted for within-subject autocorrelation of the pain scores.
There were 224 patients: 143 patients with neuropathic pain (64%), 49 with generalized pain (22%), 80 with chronic post-op pain (36%), and 63 with psychiatric diagnoses (28%). There was a significant drop in mean pain level from pre to post infusion (p<.0001) for all diagnoses, with the mean pain level dropping from 7.6 (95% confidence interval 6.8 to 8.5) to 6.8 (95% ci 6.0 to 7.7) after adjusting for covariates.
Outpatient ketamine infusions significantly improved outcome measures in patients with each of the above diagnosis groups. Closer analysis shows that improvement in various quality of life measures differed amongst chronic pain conditions.
Further study with larger sample groups may help elucidate ketamine’s broad therapeutic effect in treating chronic pain.