Dr. Sergey Motov Reaches Breakthrough in Ketamine Nebulization Studies
Patients experiencing pain have many treatment options at their disposal. Doctors prescribe opioids to control both acute and chronic pain, but in the wake of the opioid epidemic and the increasing rates of drug dependency, doctors are looking for safer choices that lower the risk of addiction without reducing pain relief effectiveness.
Avoiding addictive medications is many doctors’ preference, but depending on a patient’s severity of pain, other medications may not have the desired effect. An alternative treatment option is ketamine, and Maimonides’ own Sergey Motov, MD has been conducting research on the therapeutic applications of nebulized ketamine, specifically.
Ketamine Nebulization Is a Promising Therapy for Acute and Chronic Pain
Intravenous ketamine has been used as a pain treatment and for anesthesia management for decades, but Dr. Motov’s research shows that nebulized ketamine works a little differently. “Administration of nebulized ketamine has the potential to offer rapid, effective, titratable, and non-invasive analgesia to patients in pain in various clinical settings when ketamine can be used,” Dr. Motov shared. Eligible patients may even be able to manage their own pain using a breath-actuated nebulization.
This breakthrough research has the power to transform pain management for many different patients. “Ketamine is uniquely positioned to be effective for a variety of acute, acute on chronic, and chronic painful syndromes, including cancer-related pain,” Dr. Motov explained. “However, I see the greatest value of its use in patients with acute traumatic/non-traumatic pain, abdominal pain, back pain, and pain due to vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle cell patients in the ED and in pre-hospital settings.”
Preliminary Study Data Hints at Additional Benefits
Ketamine nebulization might also render fewer side effects than intravenous administration. Current research doesn’t directly compare each therapeutic use, but “indirect comparison revealed more favorable adverse effects,” Dr. Motov said, “and the overall tolerability of nebulized ketamine seemed better based on our data analysis.”
His research is changing the way clinicians treat patients experiencing pain while also reducing the necessary dose for effective pain management. “The lowest dose is just as effective as the highest for short-term pain relief,” he said. “In my opinion, this will add an additional layer of comfort for the physicians contemplating administration of ketamine.”
The Future of Nebulized Ketamine
Emergency medicine physicians in Texas are already applying Dr. Motov’s findings to their own patients. They conducted their own study expanding the application of this cutting edge treatment. He’s “thrilled to know they’ve been using nebulized ketamine in pre-hospital settings with great success and impressive safety.”
Dr. Motov isn’t done researching ketamine nebulization just yet. His team has already launched a “prospective randomized clinical trial comparing analgesic efficacy and safety of nebulized ketamine to intravenous ketamine in managing acute pain in adult ED patients.”
These findings may change the way doctors administer ketamine all around the world.
To hear more about Dr. Motov and his research on pain management, check out his interview on MaimoMedTalk.
