Ketamine Associated With Opioids in Refractory Cancer Pain Treatment
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2009-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Long-term opioid therapy is commonly administered for the management of severe cancer pain.
Increasing doses of opioids are titrated against effects until analgesia is achieved or
intolerable adverse effects occur. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor
antagonist, has been reported to improve analgesia in patients with uncontrolled pain
receiving high doses of opioids. This study aims at determining the effectiveness of ketamine
as an adjuvant to opioids in relieving cancer pain.