Longer Lasting Pain Relief With Morphine vs Low-Dose Ketamine for Acute Pain Patients in the ED .
Low-dose Ketamine For Acute Pain Control in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Acad Emerg Med. 2021 Apr;28(4): 444-454.Seventeen randomized controlled trials containing a total of 757 patients presenting to the emergency department with acute pain were included in this meta-analysis comparing an administration of intravenous low-dose ketamine (n=380) to intravenous morphine (n=377) for pain management. The primary outcome of interest was pain on a numeric pain reporting scale (NPRS) within 15 mins of analgesic administration, as well as range of time periods including 15-30, 30-45, 45-60, 60-90, and 90-120 minutes after analgesic administration. Secondary outcomes of interest included need for rescue analgesics, and incidence of adverse events (i.e., nausea, hypoxia). Results revealed that pooled NPRS scores were statistically significantly favored in the morphine group vs the low-dose ketamine at time intervals of 60-90 minutes, and 90-120 minutes (p=0.01; p<0.00001, respectively), but not at any other timepoint (p>0.05 for all). All other outcomes were not statistically significantly different between the 2 groups at any timepoints (p>0.05 for all).
Unlock the Full ACE Report
You have access to 4 more FREE articles this month.
Click below to unlock and view this ACE Reports
Unlock Now
Critical appraisals of the latest, high-impact randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews in orthopaedics
Access to OrthoEvidence podcast content, including collaborations with the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, interviews with internationally recognized surgeons, and roundtable discussions on orthopaedic news and topics
Subscription to The Pulse, a twice-weekly evidence-based newsletter designed to help you make better clinical decisions
Exclusive access to original content articles, including in-house systematic reviews, and articles on health research methods and hot orthopaedic topics