Ketamine bladder syndrome: an important differential diagnosis when assessing a patient with persistent lower urinary tract symptoms

Summary & key facts

This paper describes a young man who used ketamine for about five years and then had about two years of severe bladder and urinary problems. The authors say that using ketamine for fun can sometimes cause serious, often permanent damage to the bladder and urinary tract. Medical care mostly treats pain and symptoms, so stopping ketamine early is the best way to avoid major surgery. The report also reviews other cases and warns doctors to look for this problem in people who use ketamine recreationally.

Key facts:

• Recreational use of ketamine has become more common because it causes dissociation and paralysis, and it is easy to get and cheap.
• The authors report a young man who had urinary tract problems for about two years after about five years of ketamine use.
• Recreational ketamine use can cause serious and often irreversible damage to the bladder and other parts of the urinary tract.
• Medical treatment for this condition is mostly limited to pain relief and managing symptoms rather than fixing the underlying damage.
• Stopping ketamine use before the damage becomes severe is the best way the authors describe to avoid needing radical reconstructive bladder surgery.
• This paper is a single patient report plus a review of other reports, so it highlights a possible serious risk but does not tell us how often this happens in everyone who uses ketamine.

Abstract

The recreational use of ketamine is increasing in popularity due to its dissociative and paralytic effects, ease of availability and low cost. However, serious and frequently irreversible damage to the urinary tract is a recently recognised side effect of recreational ketamine use. The authors present a case of a young male patient with a 2-year history of troublesome lower urinary tract symptoms and a 5-year history of ketamine consumption. Medical management of such patients is largely limited to analgesia alone, and cessation of ketamine use before irreversible damage occurs remains the best means of avoiding the radical reconstructive surgery required in end-stage disease. This case and an accompanying review of the available literature illustrate the importance of early recognition of ketamine bladder syndrome in recreational users.

Topics

Alcoholism and Thiamine Deficiency Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Pharmacology

Tags

Anesthesia Cancer Disease Intensive care medicine Internal medicine Ketamine Lower urinary tract symptoms Medicine Prostate Surgery Urinary system

Substances

Ketamine

Conditions & symptoms

Substance abuse disorder Addiction or harmful habbits