Ketamine's utility as an anesthetic has been hampered by troublesome psychomimetic effects, which for many years have also limited its application as an analgesic. Recent investigations have shown, however, that analgesia can be produced with sub-hypnotic sub-anesthetic doses of intravenous ketamine (ie,10%-20% of those used for anesthesia) with a far lower frequency of psychomimetic reactions. These side effects are dose dependent and can be minimized by starting ketamine at low doses, titrating slowly, and concurrently starting a benzodiazepine or haloperidol.