Comparison of Nebulized Ketamine to Intravenous Subdissociative Dose Ketamine for Treating Acute Painful Conditions in the Emergency Department: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy Controlled Trial.
Annals of emergency medicine October 1, 2024 Tommy Nguyen, Mo Mai, Amulya Choudhary et al. 11 citations
In emergency department patients with acute pain, intravenous and nebulized ketamine provide similar short-term pain relief. A randomized trial compared a single dose of 0.3 mg/kg intravenous ketamine to 0.75 mg/kg nebulized ketamine in 150 adults with pain scores of 5 or higher on a 0–10 scale. At 30 minutes, mean pain scores fell from 8.2 to 3.6 (intravenous) and 3.8 (nebulized), a difference of 0.23 points that is neither clinically nor statistically significant. No serious adverse events occurred. Both routes offer a meaningful reduction in moderate to severe acute pain without safety concerns.