Abstract
Ketamine is a phencyclidine derivative that was synthesized by Stephens in 1963 (1). The first pharmacologic studies in humans were performed by Corssen and Domino in 1965. To describe the unique anesthetic state produced by ketamine, these investigators introduced the term “dissociative anesthesia” (2), a unique state of unconsciousness in which the patient is in a cataleptic trance-like state (often with their eyes open), disconnected from the surrounding environment, and apparently profoundly analgesic. The mechanism of ketamine’s actions on the central nervous system (CNS) appears to be mediated through interactions with NMDA and non-NMDA glutamate receptors, as well as the kappa opioid receptors. However, NMDA-receptor antagonism accounts for the majority of the anesthetic, analgesic, amnestic, psychomimetic and neuroprotective effects of ketamine (3,4).
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General References
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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White, P.F. (1999). The Role of Ketamine in Anesthetic Practice. In: Stanley, T.H., Egan, T.D. (eds) Anesthesia for the New Millennium. Developments in Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesiology, vol 34. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4566-4_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4566-4_30
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5935-0
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