J Anesth Perioper Med. 2016;3(4):185-190. https://doi.org/10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2016.0024

Ketamine — New Antiepileptic Drugs and Status Epilepticus

Qi-Bin Chen, Su Min*, and Li-Hua Peng

From Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Correspondence to Dr. Su Min at ms89011068@163.com

EBCMED ID: ebcmed.japm.2016.0024 DOI: 10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2016.0024


Abstract

Aim of review
Seizures are one of the most common neurological emergencies. For repeated seizures, the efficacy of traditional drugs is not ideal. Effective and timely treatment is necessary to terminate seizures and avoid brain function damage. Recent studies have found that ketamine has a better therapeutic effect.

Method
Recent articles and literature about ketamine use in the treatment of seizures were searched and reviewed, in order to identify therapeutic effect, drug dosage and its application in adult and pediatric patients.

Recent findings
Ketamine possesses special good points for the patients with status epilepticus who cannot be cured by traditional drugs. Seizure control upon ketamine administration in the adult population was documented as excellent (complete response in all patients involved) in studies. Seizure control in the pediatric studies was documented as also excellent. However, the timing of ketamine response was poorly documented in both the adult and pediatric studies. Most evidence show that the dose should include a bolus dose around 3 mg/kg, since this is the median of the range described in the literature. Continuous infusion should follow ranging up to 10 mg/kg/h, as this is the upper limit described. Finally, duration of treatment should be up to 7 days. Most patients reported in studies responded within 48 to 72 hours of ketamine initiation.

Summary
There were limited documents for the usage of ketamine for patients suffered from epilepsy. In the future, we need more clinical trials to validate its reliability and safety.

Article Type
Review Article

Declaration of Interests
All authors have no financial support and potential conflicts of interest for this work.

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