A Pilot Study on the Effects of Intravenous Ketamine on Acute Pain Crisis in Patients With Sickle Cell Disease

It is often difficult to manage acute painful crisis in patients with sickle cell disease. The usual management of these crises relies on hydration, administration of oxygen and narcotics, like morphine. A select group of patients, for unknown reasons, does not respond to this management and these patients often require prolonged use (several days) of intravenous narcotics. Narcotics have proven to be ineffective in controlling this type of pain and can cause multiple side effects (sedation, vomiting, respiratory depression). We propose to administer intravenous ketamine in this group of patients who are resistant to intravenous narcotics. Ketamine has been proven to be effective in controlling pain in multiple clinical situations. However, there are no data in the literature describing its use in patients with sickle cell disease.