Skip to content

Low-dose Ketamine for Acute Pain in the Emergency Department

Benefit of the Association of Low Doses of Ketamine With Intravenous Morphine in the Treatment of Acute Severe Pain in Emergency Department

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03017248
Enrollment
125
Registered
2017-01-11
Start date
2016-01-31
Completion date
2017-03-31
Last updated
2017-01-31

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pain

Keywords

pain, ketamine, morphine, analgesia, emergency

Brief summary

This study aims to determine the efficacy and safety of low dose ketamine in association with IV morphine in the management of acute moderate to severe pain in emergency department. The investigators hypothesize that low dose ketamine will result in more effective pain control than morphine alone and will not be associated with an increase in adverse events.

Detailed description

Management of pain in the Emergency Department is challenging. Treatment of pain is most often accomplished by parenteral opioids analgesics. However, the use of opioids alone for pain control is often associated with inadequate analgesia and increased adverse events. Low-dose ketamine has been shown to improve pain perception and produce an opioid-sparing effect when given perioperatively. Its use in the ED may probably play a role in maximizing analgesia.

Interventions

DRUGKetamine

ketamine

DRUGPlacebos

0.9% normal saline

DRUGMorphine

Morphine

Sponsors

Faculty of Medicine, Sousse
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Able to understand and give informed consent * Comfortable with the experimental protocol as outlined to them by the research team * Severe pain, pain score of at least 50/100 on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) or 5/10 numerical ratings score * Acute pain, pain duration \< 7days * Deemed by treating ED attending physician to require IV opioid analgesia

Exclusion criteria

* Neurologic, respiratory, or hemodynamic compromise * Pregnancy or breastfeeding * Known or suspected allergy to ketamine or morphine * Known Renal (Cr\>2.0) or Liver Failure * Unstable psychiatric disease (as per treating physician) * History of stroke * History of cardiac disease or coronary artery disease * History of chronic respiratory disease

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Efficacy of analgesia: To assess the primary outcome of pain relief, we used patient-reported pain scores. We consider the pain decreasing of at least 50% of pain score and the summed pain-intensity difference (SPID) over 2 hoursTwo hours after starting protocolAt baseline, to assess our primary aim, efficacy of pain control, we will use patient reported pain scores and amount of rescue analgesia (parenteral morphine) received. Trained residents will ask participants to report their pains scores using a numerical pain rating scale (NPRS). The NPRS used will be a 0 to 10 rating scale. Baseline NPRS will be measured after randomization, but just before administration of morphine. Change in reported pain score during the protocol will be analysed. The SPID was calculated using the pain-intensity difference (PID) at each of these study time points. The PID for a given time point is equal to the baseline NPRS minus the subsequent NPRS at each study time point. SPID is the summation of the PID at each of the study time points, weighted using the amount of time since the prior assessment

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Total patient-perceived pain reliefTwo hours after starting protocolThe total patient-perceived pain relief will be calculated using weighted sum of the pain relief scale performed at each study time point. This pain relief scale is a five-point scale that asks participants to rate pain relief as complete = 4, a lot = 3, some = 2, a little = 1, and none = 0
Amount of rescue analgesia receivedTwo hours after starting protocolThe amount of rescue analgesia received (in milligrams of morphine equivalents) will be recorded.
Time to rescue analgesiaTwo hours after starting protocolTime to rescue analgesia will be calculated as the time from administration of the last study medication (placebo or ketamine) to administration of an opioid analgesic.
The occurrence of adverse eventsTwo hours after starting protocolWe will record participant-reported dizziness, nausea, vomiting, confusion, dysphoria, visual disturbances, or other complaints at baseline and each study time point. All patients will be monitored for the duration of the study period and vital signs will be recorded at each time point. The presence of tachycardia (heart rate \> 100 beats/min.), hypotension (systolic blood pressure \[sBP\] \< 100 mm Hg), hypertension (sBP \> 180 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure \[dBP\] \> 100 mm Hg), and respiratory depression (respiratory rate \< 12 breaths/min, oxygen saturation \< 92%, or need for supplemental oxygen) will be noted.
The total dose of morphine administeredTwo hours after starting protocolThe amount of rescue analgesia will be recorded at each time point and the total dose calculated

Countries

Tunisia

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026