Ketamine given as a nasal spray may prove to be a safe and effective treatment for chronic migraine, a study has found.
- Ketamine spray may help people with chronic migraines who don’t get relief from this intravenous anesthetic.
- In fact, according to a study of migraine sufferers, nearly half of the participants experienced relief from the ketamine spray.
- Further clinical trials are needed to confirm the results, however, point out the authors of the study.
Researchers may have found a way to help people who suffer from chronic migraines.
Indeed, according to a study published in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, a ketamine nasal spray would be effective against chronic headaches.
Ketamine spray: the solution against chronic migraines?
ketamine is a fast-acting anesthetic used in medical or veterinary surgery.
Several clinical trials had shown that intravenous ketamine was effective for disorders such as migraine, This throbbing headache, unilateral, occurring in attacks, and cluster headaches, a one-sided headache that can include tearing, droopy eyelids and a stuffy nose, the authors recall.
But the researchers wanted to know if ketamine could also be used safely for chronic migraine that is resistant to treatment. We are talking about chronic migraine when the migraine lasts more than 15 days per month, recall theHealth Insurance.
So they retrospectively looked at the outcomes and experiences of people who received ketamine nasal spray for chronic migraine between January and February 2020 at a single headache center in the United States.
Migraine: ketamine spray is effective in most cases
During this period, 242 people were prescribed ketamine nasal spray. 169 (80% women with an average age of 44) agreed to be interviewed. Most of them reported suffering from daily headaches (67.5%) and almost 85% tried more than three types of preventive medication.
The most common reasons for wanting to use ketamine nasal spray included partial responses to pain relievers (59%) and preventive medications (52.31%), previous benefit from intravenous ketamine (22.5%), and failure of intravenous lidocaine (22.13%), another local anesthetic.
Forty-one (25%) and 46 (28%) patients were offered ketamine nasal spray before and after intravenous ketamine infusion, respectively; 47% have never received intravenous ketamine. Overall, they said they used the nasal spray six times, on an average of ten days per month.
The results are in: almost half (49%) said the spray was “very effective“, while 39.5% found it”quite effective“. More than a third (35.5%) said their quality of life was “much better“. Compared to other medications, 73 people (43%) felt that the nasal spray was “much better” and 50 people (29.5%) thought it was “rather better“.
Ketamine spray: the risks of addiction are real
However, the figures from this survey should be taken with caution. Indeed, most participants used the spray alongside other medications, making it difficult to assess the therapeutic benefit of the spray on its own, the authors said.
The most effective and safest dose also remains to be determined in the absence of clinical guidelines, they point out.
In addition, addiction is a potential downside, according to the authors who conclude: “Clinicians should only consider the use of a potentially addictive drug such as ketamine for migraine patients with significant disability“.