Ketamine- The dissociative anaesthesia. "I see the colorful kites flying in the sky with no pain but with lots of excitement"

 

Ketamine is best described as "dissociative anaesthetic”.

 It “interrupts the communication” between the cerebral cortex and the limbic system.

 There is 

👉Profound analgesia 

👉Moderate hypnosis 

👉Marked sympathomimetic effect 

Hallucinations and hypersalivation also do occur.

Multiple mechanisms seem to modulate the wide responses of ketamine.

💥Antagonism of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor in the thalamus and reticular activating system is responsible for the analgesic effect.

💥Blockade of NMDA receptor in the cerebral cortex mediates the hallucinatory and hypnotic actions.

💥Sympathomimetic effects are due to direct CNS stimulation by enhanced central peripheral monoaminergic transmission.