Role of ketamine in acute postoperative pain management: a narrative review.

Objectives: The objective of this narrative review was to examine the usage of ketamine as a postoperative analgesic agent across a wide variety of surgeries.

Design: A literature search was performed using the phrases "ketamine" and "postoperative pain." The authors analyzed the studies that involved testing ketamine's effectiveness at controlling postoperative pain.

Ketamine-A Narrative Review of Its Uses in Medicine.

One of the most fascinating drugs in the anesthesiologist's armament is ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist with a myriad of uses. The drug is a dissociative anesthetic and has been used more often as an analgesic in numerous hospital units, outpatient pain clinics, and in the prehospital realm. It has been used to treat postoperative pain, chronic pain, complex regional pain syndrome, phantom limb pain, and other neuropathic conditions requiring analgesia.

Development of phantom limb pain after femoral nerve block.

Historically, phantom limb pain (PLP) develops in 50-80% of amputees and may arise within days following an amputation for reasons presently not well understood. Our case involves a 29-year-old male with previous surgical amputation who develops PLP after the performance of a femoral nerve block. Although there have been documented cases of reactivation of PLP in amputees after neuraxial technique, there have been no reported events associated with femoral nerve blockade.