Ketamine infusion for pain control in severely injured patients: Results of a randomized controlled trial.
The journal of trauma and acute care surgery June 1, 2025 Thomas W Carver, William J Peppard, Jaclyn A Gellings et al. 3 citations
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested whether adding adjustable-dose ketamine to standard pain management reduces opioid use in severely injured trauma patients. Among 78 adults with a median Injury Severity Score of 22, those receiving ketamine used a median of 110.6 oral morphine equivalents in the first 24 hours, compared with 99.2 in the placebo group—a difference that was not statistically significant. Pain scores also did not differ between groups. The trial was stopped early because the results met a futility cutoff. Adjuvant ketamine at the doses tested failed to lower opioid consumption or improve pain control in this severely injured population.