Ketamine linked to bladder, kidney dysfunction

By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ketamine, widely abused as a party drug, has been linked to severe bladder and kidney dysfunction in 10 young adults in Hong Kong, doctors said.

Writing in the latest issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal, the doctors said some of the cases were so severe that the young people could hold only 30 milliliters -- or two tablespoons -- of urine in their bladders and had to pass water every 15 minutes.

"One went into acute kidney failure and all of them had evidence of liver damage as well," the doctors from two public hospitals in Hong Kong wrote.

However, as bladder and kidney damage have not been linked to ketamine anywhere in the world before, the researchers said the disorders may be a result of other toxins that "street ketamine" might be contaminated with.

"The authors would like to alert frontline doctors, especially those working in primary care, emergency departments and psychiatry, to this new form of uropathy and its association with ketamine abuse. Early urology referral for comprehensive investigation and management would help combat this new form of urinary tract disease," they added.

Ketamine is mostly used as a veterinary anesthetic. In humans, it causes hallucinations and high blood pressure.

But it had become widely and illicitly used as a party drug in some parts of the world by the 1990s, and has since been banned or classified as a controlled substance in places like Britain, the United States, Canada and Hong Kong.

The seven men and three women in Hong Kong had used ketamine for between one and four years, and their cases came to light when they sought medical help for their incontinence from 2000 to 2007. They have a mean age of 25.