"One form of pain resulting from sensitization is called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), in which a seemingly minor trauma becomes more painful with time rather than less and is accompanied by changes in the skin and autonomic response in the affected limb. The pain can be severe and is often both chronic and resistant to conventional therapy. In 2002, a team in Germany led by Ralph-Thomas Kiefer, MD, kept six patients with CRPS unconscious with a continuous ketamine infusion for a week and found that four were cured and two were relieved of their pain for one and three months respectively. Mindful that a week of intensive monitoring in the ICU is seldom a practical treatment for anything, G.E. Correll’s group at Penn State Hershey Medical Center reviewed the medical records of 33 patients given lowdose (subhallucinogenic) ketamine for CRPS instead and found that three quarters had experienced complete pain relief and 31 percent were still pain-free six months later. This was enough to prompt a prospective trial in which 40 patients with CRPS were given sub-hallucinogenic doses of ketamine. They reported significant pain relief that lasted for weeks in most of the patients and caused a permanent remission in three."*

Ketamine is not FDA Approved for treatment of Pain

 

* From Ketamine: Peril and Promise by R. Andrew Sewell, MD

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v17n1/ketamine-peril_and_promise.pdf

 

Correll GE, Maleki J, Gracely EJ, Muir JJ, Harbut RE. Subanesthetic ketamine infusion therapy: a retrospective analysis of a novel therapeutic approach to complex regional pain syndrome. Pain Med 2004;5:263-275.

Goldberg ME, Domsky R, Scaringe D, et al. Multi-day low dose ketamine infusion for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome. Pain Physician 2005;8:175-179. 11. Jovaisa T, Laurinenas G, Vosylius S, Sipylai