ArticleCNS neuroscience & therapeutics2013
Ketamine pharmacology: an update (pharmacodynamics and molecular aspects, recent findings).
Article in CNS neuroscience & therapeutics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 288 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of the Initial Prescription of Ketamine and Milnacipran Forin Depression in Patients With a Progressive Disease
Intraoperative Low-dose Ketamine Infusion as the Main Analgesic in Burn Patients
Initiating Ketamine in Acutely Suicidal Patients in the Emergency Department
Dexmedetomidine Versus Ketamine to Facilitate Non-invasive Ventilation After Blunt Chest Trauma
Who cites it
288 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 661 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Perioperative Ketamine and Esketamine on Postoperative Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Ketamine Versus Midazolam for Suicidality: A GRADE-Assessed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Brain and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Ketamine versus morphine for musculoskeletal trauma pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2026Pooled it
- Ketamine and other NMDA receptor antagonists for chronic pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the Efficacy and Safety of Ketamine for Managing Acute Renal Colic in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review of Recent Clinical Trials.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Adjunctive esketamine in propofol-based sedation for gastrointestinal endoscopy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of ketamine on fear memory extinction: a review of preclinical literature.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Infusion Therapy in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of racemic ketamine and esketamine for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Expert opinion on drug safety · 2022Pooled it
- Perioperative Breast Analgesia: a Systematic Review of the Evidence for Perioperative Analgesic Medications.Current pain and headache reports · 2022Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy and Safety of Ketamine on Postoperative Catheter-Related Bladder Discomfort.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Opioid-free analgesia with esketamine-dexmedetomidine versus opioid-based analgesia after gynaecological laparoscopic surgery: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.Annals of medicine · 2026Trial
- Subacute effects of ketamine on neural correlates of reward processing.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Sequence-Dependent Analgesic Efficacy of Ketamine and Magnesium Sulfate After Radical Nephrectomy.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Trial
- The Effects of Different Doses of Nalbuphine and Esketamine on Prevention of Emergence Agitation in Preschool Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Trial
- Combination use of intravenous ketamine-midazolam as a sedative agent in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a randomized control trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effects of Intranasal dexmedetomidine and esketamine for premedication on postoperative pain after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in children: a randomized clinical trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Trial
- Efficacy and safety of esketamine for emergency endotracheal intubation in ICU patients: a double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Is ketamine efficacious for rapid treatment of acute suicidal ideation in an emergency setting? Lessons learned from a pilot randomized controlled trial.BMC research notes · 2025Trial
- Effects of s-ketamine and midazolam on respiratory variability: A randomized controlled pilot trial.PloS one · 2025Trial
228 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For more than 50 years, ketamine has proven to be a safe anesthetic drug with potent analgesic properties. The active enantiomer is S(+)-ketamine. Ketamine is mostly metabolized in norketamine, an active metabolite. During "dissociative anesthesia", sensory inputs may reach cortical receiving areas, but fail to be perceived in some association areas. Ketamine also enhances the descending inhibiting serotoninergic pathway and exerts antidepressive effects. Analgesic effects persist for plasma concentrations ten times lower than hypnotic concentrations. Activation of the (N-Methyl-D-Aspartate [NMDA]) receptor plays a fundamental role in long-term potentiation but also in hyperalgesia and opioid-induced hyperalgesia. The antagonism of NMDA receptor is responsible for ketamine's more specific properties. Ketamine decreases the "wind up" phenomenon, and the antagonism is more important if the NMDA channel has been previously opened by the glutamate binding ("use dependence"). Experimentally, ketamine may promote neuronal apoptotic lesions but, in usual clinical practice, it does not induce neurotoxicity. The consequences of high doses, repeatedly administered, are not known. Cognitive disturbances are frequent in chronic users of ketamine, as well as frontal white matter abnormalities. Animal studies suggest that neurodegeneration is a potential long-term risk of anesthetics in neonatal and young pediatric patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.