Perioperative Ketamine Administration for Thoracotomy Pain.

Background: Of all the postsurgical pain conditions, thoracotomy pain poses a particular therapeutic challenge in terms of its prevalence, severity, and ensuing postoperative morbidity. Multiple pain generators contribute to the severity of post-thoracotomy pain, and therefore a multimodal analgesic therapy is considered to be a necessary strategy. Along with opioids, thoracic epidural analgesia, and paravertebral blocks, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists such as ketamine have been used as adjuvants to improve analgesia.