Clinical experience with oral ketamine

Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist used recently for analgesia in patients with chronic pain. Twenty one patients with chronic neuropathic pain were treated with oral ketamine starting at a divided dose of 100 mg/day and titrating upwards by 40 mg/day until efficacy was reached, or until side effects became limiting. A retrospective chart review was conducted to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and side effects of the treatment. Nine patients discontinued ketamine because of intolerable side effects, four patients experienced few or no side effects but had no discernible benefit, four others had equivocal responses. Four patients have continued oral ketamine for long periods. One patient has had no significant benefit or side effects but continues to use ketamine 500 mg/day and three people have used doses ranging from 100-240 mg day for over 1 year duration and have reported improvements in pain and decreased use of analgesics. The analgesic benefits of ketamine appeared to be most pronounced in, but not limited to, patients with pain histories of less than 5 years.