Ketamine Infusions for Treatment Refractory Headache

Background Management of chronic migraine (CM) or new daily persistent headache (NDPH) in those who require aggressive outpatient and inpatient treatment is challenging. Ketamine has been suggested as a new treatment for this intractable population. Methods This is a retrospective review of 77 patients who underwent administration of intravenous, subanesthetic ketamine for CM or NDPH. All patients had previously failed aggressive outpatient and inpatient treatments. Records were reviewed for patients treated between January 2006 and December 2014. Results 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