Micro-drip infusion of ketamine for the management of the pain in the oral cancer patients of terminal stage

Abstract

Three terminal-stage oral cancer patients received intravenous micro-drip administration of ketamine (Ketalar^®) for pain management.
A combination of diazepam with ketamine was administered to the patients to prevent the side effects of ketamine such as hallucination, excitation and dementia, and analgesic and sedative effects were observed.
Two patients safely received long-term administration of ketamine, however ketamine was stopped in one patient because of side effects.
This approach suggests that combination use of ketamine and diazepam is useful for the relief of cancer pain.