Successful Treatment of Paradoxical Vocal Cord Motion with Sub-dissociative Dose Ketamine: Case Report.
Clinical practice and cases in emergency medicine May 1, 2025 Keaton Cameron-Burr, Elizabeth Terry-Kantor, Taneshia Wilson 1 citation
Paradoxical vocal cord motion (PVCM) is a neuropsychiatric condition often mistaken for asthma or airway blockage. A 23-year-old woman with an acute PVCM attack did not improve with standard benzodiazepine treatment. She received a low (sub-dissociative) dose of intravenous ketamine, which resolved her symptoms and allowed her to leave the emergency department. The authors suggest that sub-dissociative ketamine may be a safe and effective option for PVCM flare-ups, and they discuss patient factors that may have influenced the successful outcome.