Kyung min Kwon
Catholic University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Title: The difference of ketamine use in pancreatic cancer patient between gender
Biography
Biography: Kyung min Kwon
Abstract
Purpose : Up to 90% of pancreatic cancer patient suffer from neuropathic pain. In palliative care setting, pain control in a pancreatic cancer patient is one of the major goals. Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist effective in neuropathic pain. Also there have been studies about the opioid-sparing effect of ketamine. This study was held in palliative care unit among pancreatic cancer patients to find out the difference of ketamine and opioid use between men and women.
Methods: Medical records of pancreatic cancer patients admitted to St.Mary’s hospital palliative care unit from 2013.1 to 2014.12 were reviewed. Total ketamine dose and total opioid dose were compared between men and women. All opioid medication were converted to OME(oral morphine equivalents).
Results: 57 men and 49 women with pancreatic cancer were on opioid and ketamine during admission. Compared to men, women required higher dose of total ketamine dose(men 123.4mg vs women 268.2mg, P=0.18), total basal opioid(men 361mg vs women 564mg, P=0.18), total PRN opioid(men 172mg vs women 286mg, P = 0.135), daily average ketamine(men 13.7 vs women 17.5, P=0.47) and daily average opioid(men 27.5 vs women 32.2, P=0.67) but it none of the variables showed statistical significance.
Conclusion: In this study, female pancreatic cancer patients required more opioid and ketamine, compared to male pancreatic cancer patients although it did not have a statistical difference. Future prospective studies about palliative use of ketamine and the difference between sex in a larger number of patients are required.