Clinical trial of ketamine (CI-581): a preliminary report.

PHENCI'CLWL\TE (SERNYL) is a potent anaesthetic agent producing good analgesia and complete sensory dissociation. 1,2 Because of the occurrence of postoperative confusional states and hallucination in a proportion of cases, and also purposeless movements during its use, ~ it was withdrawn from the market by the manufacturers. Ketamine, or cI-581, as it is often referred to, is a derivative of phencyclidine and has been synthesized in the search for a compound to replace phencyclidine. Chemically, Ketamine is 2-( O-clfiorophenyl)-2 methylaminoeylohexanone hydrochloride. The relationship between phencyclidine and Ketamine may be seen in their chemical structures as shown in Figure 1.