Analgesic effects of ketamine ointment in patients with complex regional pain syndrome type 1.

Objective: Ketamine hydrochloride (KET), an agent used for general anesthesia, has local anesthetic effects and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist action. Because recent studies emphasized the role of peripherally distributed NMDA receptors in processing the nociceptive information, we investigated whether peripheral application of the ointment containing KET is able to attenuate the symptoms of local neuropathic pain.

Case Reports: We applied ointment containing KET (0.