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Review
. 2023 Dec 21;17(1):16.
doi: 10.3390/ph17010016.

Ketamine, an Old-New Drug: Uses and Abuses

Katarina Savić Vujović  1 , Ana Jotić  2 , Branislava Medić  1 , Dragana Srebro  1 , Aleksandar Vujović  3 , Janko Žujović  4 , Ana Opanković  5 , Sonja Vučković  1
Affiliations
Review

Ketamine, an Old-New Drug: Uses and Abuses

Katarina Savić Vujović et al. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). .

Abstract

Ketamine as an old-new drug has a variety of clinical implications. In the last 30 years, ketamine has become popular for acute use in humans. Ketamine in standard doses is principally utilized for the induction and maintenance of surgical procedures. Besides its use in anesthesia and analgesia, recent studies have shown that ketamine has found a place in the treatment of asthma, epilepsy, depression, bipolar affective disorders, alcohol and heroin addiction. Ketamine primarily functions as a noncompetitive antagonist targeting the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, but its mechanism of action is complex. It is generally regarded as safe, with low doses and short-term use typically not leading to significant adverse effects. Also, ketamine is known as a powerful psychostimulant. During the past decade, ketamine has been one of the commonly abused drugs.

Keywords: abuse; analgesia; anesthesia; clinical implications; ketamine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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