Good news for patients suffering from Chronic Migraine or new daily persistent headache. A retrospective review of 77 patients who underwent administration of intravenous, subanesthetic ketamine was conducted by investigators at Thomas Jefferson University. Their results were just published in Headache–the Journal of Head and Face Pain.
The researchers found that the mean headache pain rating using a 0-10 pain scale was an average of 7.1 at admission and 3.8 on discharge (P < .0001). Moreover, the majority (55/77, 71.4%) of patients were classified as acute responders defined as at least 2-point improvement in headache pain at discharge. Even more encouraging, they found that some (15/77, 27.3%) acute responders maintained this benefit at their follow-up office visit.
The mean length of infusion in this subset of patients was 4.8 days and they found that IV ketamine was well tolerated. These results bolster previous case reports and clinical studies that suggested that ketamine could be used to treat chronic migraine.
Dr. Hanna has used intravenous ketamine to successfully treat migraine in some patients. His clinical team is highly skilled and experienced–having completed more than 10,000 infusions at present time. If you have migraine that is not adaquately managed with other medications, please make an appointment with Dr. Hanna to find out if IV ketamine may be a good option for you.
Link to scientific article here.