ArticleBMC pediatrics2015
Subanesthetic ketamine infusions for the treatment of children and adolescents with chronic pain: a longitudinal study.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ketamine for Analgosedation in Critically Ill Mechanically Ventilated Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Critical care explorations · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of therapeutic ketamine use in children and adolescents with treatment-resistant mood disorders.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- The Effect of Ketamine Infusion in the Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: a Systemic Review and Meta-analysis.Current pain and headache reports · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Physicochemical compatibility and stability of ketamine co-administered with selected supportive care drugs and parenteral nutrition in pediatric oncology.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Effective Adolescent Hand CRPS Type 1 Treatment Using Ketamine, Gabapentin, and Supraclavicular Nerve Block Catheter-A Case Report.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Pharmacological Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in Children.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Intermittent versus continuous esketamine infusions for long-term pain modulation in complex regional pain syndrome: protocol of a randomized controlled non-inferiority study (KetCRPS-2).BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
- Subanesthetic ketamine: the way forward for pain management in sickle cell disease patients?Expert review of hematology · 2022Article
- Low-dose ketamine infusions reduce opioid use in pediatric and young adult oncology patients.Pediatric blood & cancer · 2022Article
- Ketamine use disorder: preclinical, clinical, and neuroimaging evidence to support proposed mechanisms of actions.Intelligent medicine · 2022Article
- Mechanisms, Characteristics, and Treatment of Neuropathic Pain and Peripheral Neuropathy Associated with Dinutuximab in Neuroblastoma Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Use of Ketamine Infusions for Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2021Review
- A review on the recent application of ketamine in management of anesthesia, pain, and health care.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2020Review
- A Review of Nonanesthetic Uses of Ketamine.Anesthesiology research and practice · 2020Review
- Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral profile in children and adolescents with chronic pain associated with rheumatic diseases: A case-control study.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2019Article
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Current Concepts and Treatment Options.Current pain and headache reports · 2018Review
- Patient characteristics affect the response to ketamine and opioids during the treatment of vaso-occlusive episode-related pain in sickle cell disease.Pediatric research · 2018Article
- Basic/Translational Development of Forthcoming Opioid- and Nonopioid-Targeted Pain Therapeutics.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2017Review
- Novel Psychoactive Substances-Recent Progress on Neuropharmacological Mechanisms of Action for Selected Drugs.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic pain is common in children and adolescents and is often associated with severe functional disability and mood disorders. The pharmacological treatment of chronic pain in children and adolescents can be challenging, ineffective, and is mostly based on expert opinions and consensus. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, has been used as an adjuvant for treatment of adult chronic pain and has been shown, in some instances, to improve pain and decrease opioid-requirement. We examined the effects of subanesthetic ketamine infusions on pain intensity and opioid use in children and adolescents with chronic pain syndromes treated in an outpatient setting.
methodsLongitudinal cohort study of consecutive pediatric patients treated with subanesthetic ketamine infusions in a tertiary outpatient center. Outcome measurements included self-reported pain scores (numeric rating scale) and morphine-equivalent intake.
resultsOver a 15-month period, 63 children and adolescents (median age 15, interquartile range 12-17 years) with chronic pain received 277 ketamine infusions. Intravenous administration of subanesthetic doses of ketamine to children and adolescents on an outpatient basis was safe and not associated with psychotropic effects or hemodynamic perturbations. Overall, ketamine significantly reduced pain intensity (p < 0.001) and yielded greater pain reduction in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) than in patients with other chronic pain syndromes (p = 0.029). Ketamine-associated reductions in pain scores were the largest in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and trauma patients and the smallest in patients with chronic headache (p = 0.007). In 37% of infusions, patients had a greater than 20 % reduction in pain score. Conversely, ketamine infusions did not change overall morphine-equivalent intake (p = 0.3).
conclusionsThese data suggest that subanesthetic ketamine infusion is feasible in an outpatient setting and may benefit children and adolescents with chronic pain. Further, patients with CRPS, POTS, and a history of trauma-related chronic pain are more likely to benefit from this therapeutic modality.
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Registered trials
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