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Home > Emergency Medical Minute > Episode 964: Ketamine & Midazolam for Prehospital Seizure Management
Podcast: Emergency Medical Minute
Episode:

Episode 964: Ketamine & Midazolam for Prehospital Seizure Management
Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 00:04:07
Publish Date: 2025-07-07 10:00:00
Description:

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Prehospital seizures are typically managed with intramuscular midazolam (Versed)
  • Seizures theoretically involve the NMDA pathway, and ketamine is a potent NMDA antagonist
  • A recent retrospective cohort study analyzed a Florida EMS protocol that uses ketamine in seizures refractory to midazolam
    • One group received two doses of midazolam for seizure control
    • The other group received a dose of midazolam followed by a dose of ketamine
  • After matching, 82% of the midazolam-only group patients had resolution of convulsions prior to ED arrival
    • 94.4% of patients in the midazolam + ketamine group experienced resolution
    • Absolute difference between groups was 12.4% (95% CI 3.1% to 21.7%)
  • Limitations to the study include its prehospital setting and limited long-term follow-up

References

  1. Zitek T, Scheppke KA, Antevy P, et al. Midazolam and Ketamine for Convulsive Status Epilepticus in the Out-of-Hospital Setting. Ann Emerg Med. 2025;85(4):305-312. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2024.11.002

Summarized & Edited by Jorge Chalit, OMS4

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