Abstract
Background
Chronic pain after major lower back surgery is frequent. We investigated in adults the effect of perioperative low‐dose ketamine on neuropathic lower back pain, assessed by the DN4 questionnaire, six and 12 months after major lower back surgery.
Methods
In this single‐centre randomized trial, 80 patients received intravenous ketamine 0.25 mg/kg preoperatively, followed by 0.25 mg/kg hr‐1 intraoperatively, and 0.1 mg/kg hr‐1 from 1 hr before the end of surgery until the end of recovery room stay; 80 controls received placebo.
Results
Preoperatively, 47.4% of patients in the ketamine group and 46.3% in the placebo group had neuropathic pain; 10% and 3.8%, respectively, were using strong opioids. At the end of the infusion, the median cumulative dose of ketamine was 84.8 mg (IQR 67.4–106.7) and the median plasma level was 97 ng/ml (IQR 77.9–128.0). At six months, 28.8% of patients in the ketamine group and 23.5% in the placebo group had neuropathic pain (absolute difference, 5.2%; 95% CI −10.7 to 21.1; p = .607). At 12 months, 26.4% of patients in the ketamine group and 17.9% in the placebo group had neuropathic pain (absolute difference 8.5%; 95% CI −6.7 to 23.6; p = .319).
Conclusions
In this patient population with a high prevalence of neuropathic lower back pain undergoing major lower back surgery, a perioperative intravenous low‐dose ketamine infusion did not have an effect on the prevalence of neuropathic lower back pain at six or 12 months postoperatively.
from Wiley: European Journal of Pain: Table of Contents https://ift.tt/331z47t
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