The efficacy of nasal administration of esketamine in patients having moderate-to-severe pain after preoperative CT-guided needle localization: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Frontiers in medicine January 1, 2024 Jiangning Xu, Jin Jian, Yunyun Zhang et al. 1 citation
Nasal administration of esketamine effectively relieves acute pain after CT-guided needle localization before lung surgery. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 90 patients with pain scores above 3 on a 10-point scale received either a low or high dose of esketamine or saline. Satisfactory pain relief—a score of 3 or lower 15 minutes after treatment—occurred in 56.7% of patients given 0.3 mg/kg esketamine, 53.3% given 0.5 mg/kg, but only 16.7% given saline. Those receiving esketamine also required less rescue pain medication and had similar rates of side effects. The results indicate that intranasal esketamine is a safe and effective option for managing acute pain in this setting.