[size=+1]Chronic ketamine use kills bladder cells[/size]
15 June 2011 by Shaoni Bhattacharya
Magazine issue 2817
THERE is growing evidence that chronic use of the recreational drug ketamine is linked with severe bladder problems. The findings may also have implications for the drug's use as an antidepressant.
Used safely as a medical anaesthetic and analgesic for decades, ketamine has also risen in popularity as a recreational drug. The first case of severe bladder problems linked with ketamine use was documented in 2007, but little is known about the extent or cause of the problem.
Now a group of surgeons and scientists have raised the alarm in a review calling for more investigation (BJU International, DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2010.10031.x). They highlight effects such as incontinence and bladder shrinkage, as well as damage to the kidneys and ureter in people using ketamine frequently.
"It has a major impact on users such that they can be incontinent or have enormous pain," says Dan Wood, a consultant urologist at University College London Hospitals, who led the review. He has seen 20 chronic ketamine users with urinary problems in the last three years and had to remove four patients' bladders.
The review suggests that heavy users are more likely to suffer symptoms, and about 20 per cent of people who have taken high doses of ketamine several times a week over months to years have experienced urinary tract problems.
Full article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028174.100-chronic-ketamine-use-kills-bladder-cells.html
15 June 2011 by Shaoni Bhattacharya
Magazine issue 2817
THERE is growing evidence that chronic use of the recreational drug ketamine is linked with severe bladder problems. The findings may also have implications for the drug's use as an antidepressant.
Used safely as a medical anaesthetic and analgesic for decades, ketamine has also risen in popularity as a recreational drug. The first case of severe bladder problems linked with ketamine use was documented in 2007, but little is known about the extent or cause of the problem.
Now a group of surgeons and scientists have raised the alarm in a review calling for more investigation (BJU International, DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2010.10031.x). They highlight effects such as incontinence and bladder shrinkage, as well as damage to the kidneys and ureter in people using ketamine frequently.
"It has a major impact on users such that they can be incontinent or have enormous pain," says Dan Wood, a consultant urologist at University College London Hospitals, who led the review. He has seen 20 chronic ketamine users with urinary problems in the last three years and had to remove four patients' bladders.
The review suggests that heavy users are more likely to suffer symptoms, and about 20 per cent of people who have taken high doses of ketamine several times a week over months to years have experienced urinary tract problems.
Full article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028174.100-chronic-ketamine-use-kills-bladder-cells.html
