Topical Ketamine 10% for Neuropathic Pain in Spinal Cord Injury Patients
Ketamine is a NMDA antagonist. Therefore, topical Ketamine can be effective in certain neuropathic pain syndromes. An open label trial enrolled five subjects at an outpatient rehabilitation hospital with traumatic spinal cord injuries who had neuropathic pain at or below the level of injury. Subjects applied Ketamine 10% for Neuropathic Pain three times a day for a two-week duration. All five subject had a decrease in their pain scale by the end of two weeks! The pain relief lasted anywhere from one hour in one subject to the next application in other subjects.
No adverse effects were seen in topical ketamine 10% for neuropathic pain. Overall, four out of the five subjects stated that they were satisfied with ketamine 10% for neuropathic pain. In addition, topical ketamine 10% for neuropathic pain is an effective pain medicine in patients with spinal cord injuries.
Americans with Chronic Pain
Over 100 million Americans have chronic pain. Topical analgesics appeal to clinicians because of a lack of systemic absorption resulting in limited side effects. Topical ketamine has started to gain popularity in pain physician practices because topical ketamine can be very versatile. It can help with: post herpetic neuralgia, complex regional pain syndrome, pelvic pain, and compression neuropathies. In addition, it is safely administered with very few adverse effects reported in published data.
The majority of patients who sustain spinal cord injury (SCI) have chronic pain. Given the high prevalence of neuropathic pain in SCI patients, topical ketamine could potentially be an excellent treatment or adjuvant therapy.
Topical Ketamine Mechanism of Action
Ketamine is a NMDA antagonist. Ketamine also works on opioid receptors, muscarinic receptors, ion channels, MOA transporters including dopamine and serotonin, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase. In addition, ketamine acts as an anti-inflammatory by acting on toll-like receptor leading to down regulation of pro-inflammatory gene expression.
http://www.ijpc.com/ Vol. 20 No. 6| November | December |2016
In conclusion, facts and figures computed by IJPC.