PainRelief.com Interview with:
Shannon Lovett, MD, FACEP
Associate Professor
Associate Medical Director, ED Clinical Operations
Department of Emergency Medicine
Stritch School of Medicine

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What types of pain were treated?

Response: The opioid crisis has led emergency medicine providers to utilize other medications to treat pain, including ketamine. Prior to our study, there was a range of recommended ketamine doses in the treatment of pain, and the most frequently studied dose demonstrating analgesic efficacy was 0.3 mg/kg. We challenged that dose by comparing a lower dose, 0.15 mg/kg, to 0.3 mg/kg of IV ketamine for acute moderate to severe pain in the emergency department. We treated acute (onset < 7 days) abdominal, back, flank, musculoskeletal, and headache pain.