Ketamine: Pro or antiepileptic agent? A systematic review

of Review: This evidence-based systematic review evaluated the safety of ketamine as regard the potential to provoke epilepsy to help better guide anesthesiologists in their practice.

Ketamine, originally developed as a dissociative anesthetic, has gained attention for its potential therapeutic applications in various medical conditions, including epilepsy. Ketamine is generally well-tolerated and widely used in anesthesia, however, conflicting data are confusing the anesthesiologists regarding the potential risk of seizures associated with its use. The literature that claimed the proepileeptic property are inconsistent and the mechanism of action is unclear. Moreover, the case reports had been in same certain contexts, such as procedural sedation where ketamine was used as a single agent. On the other hand, the retrospective data analysis confirmed the positive role ketamine plays as antiepileptic agent.

Many studies have shown promising results for the use of ketamine as antiepileptic agent. In case of epileptic patients, there is no contraindication for using ketamine, however, combining with benzodiazepine or propofol may enhance the safety.