• Richard J Wurtman.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. dick@mit.edu
• Metab. Clin. Exp. 2010 Oct 1;59 Suppl 1:S37-40.

AbstractAlthough the pain of fibromyalgia usually is not preceded by an injury to the involved tissue, whereas that of the complex regional pain syndrome usually starts at a site of prior trauma or surgery, both disorders may share a common mechanism-pathologic sensitization of brain mechanisms that integrate nociceptive signals-and both apparently respond to treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic-analgesic agent whose actions include blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Ketamine's widespread illegal use as a recreational agent probably precludes developing it as a general treatment of centrally mediated pain disorders; however, its efficacy suggests that related, to-be-discovered agents could be useful.Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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