Ketamine for pain – perhaps not the panacea we hoped it would be

Ketamine is commonly used as an analgesic in emergency medicine and as an adjuvant drug in the perioperative setting. In addition, it is used as a third-line adjuvant drug for opioid-resistant pain in palliative care and for intractable chronic noncancer pain. More recently, ketamine is increasingly being used to treat major depression and other mood disorders.