Introduction: pain management is an important and challenging issue in emergency medicine. Despite the conduct of several studies on this topic, pain is still handled improperly in many cases.
Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of low-dose IN ketamine administration in reducing the need for opiates in patients in acute pain resulting from limb injury.
Method: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to assess the possible effect of low-dose intranasal (IN) ketamine administration in decreasing patients' narcotic need. Patients in emergency department suffering from acute isolated limb trauma were included. One group of patients received 0.5 mg/kg intravenous morphine sulfate and 0.02 ml/kg IN ketamine. The other group received the same dose of morphine sulfate and 0.02 ml/kg IN distilled water. Pain severity was measured using the 11 points numerical rating scale at 0, 10, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes.
Results: Ninety-one patients with mean age of 31.62 ± 9.13 years were enrolled (54.9% male). The number of requests for supplemental medication was significantly lower in patients who received ketamine (12 patients (30%)) than those who received placebo (27 patients (67.5%)) (p=0.001).
Conclusion: It is likely that low-dose IN ketamine is effective in reducing the narcotic need of patients suffering from acute limb trauma.