Matthew Perry Cause Of Death – The Los Angeles County coroner’s autopsy report released on Friday attributed the cause of death for “Friends” star Matthew Perry to the acute effects of ketamine. Perry, who passed away on October 28 this year at the age of 54, had reportedly undergone ketamine infusion therapy and had received a ketamine infusion one-and-a-half weeks before his demise.
However, the medical examiner ruled out the possibility that the ketamine detected in his system could be attributed to the recent infusion, emphasizing that ketamine typically has a half-life of three to four hours or less.
In addition to the acute ketamine effects, the report identified drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine as contributing factors. Notably, buprenorphine is a medication utilized in the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), as per the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Despite these contributing factors, Perry’s death was officially ruled as accidental.
This incident prompts an examination into the nature of ketamine and its applications in medical treatment.
What Exactly is Ketamine?
Ketamine serves as a dissociative anesthetic with established medical use for inducing anesthesia. Notably, in recent times, it has garnered attention for its application in treating treatment-resistant depression, as documented by StatPearls, an online library hosted by the National Library of Medicine.
American Addiction Centers highlights that ketamine carries a “potential for recreational misuse.”
What Entails Ketamine Therapy?
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) notes that ketamine obtained approval in the 1970s as a rapid-acting anaesthetic sanctioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In more contemporary contexts, off-label use of ketamine has emerged as a therapeutic approach for addressing psychological disorders such as depression and PTSD.
Dr. John Crystal, co-director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, emphasized to ABC News’ Eva Pilgrim in November that while traditional antidepressants typically take around two months to manifest symptom reduction, ketamine often produces comparable improvements within a remarkably brief timeframe of 24 hours for many individuals.”Death by ketamine overdose rarely occurs if ketamine is the only drug someone takes,” says the American Addiction Centers.
The potentially fatal amount of ketamine is approximated to be around 5.6 milligrams per pound for an individual weighing 154 pounds, as outlined in the StatPearls journal available in the National Library of Medicine.
In addition to the life-threatening aspect, Dr. John Crystal, who serves as the co-director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, cautioned in November during an interview with Eva Pilgrim that individuals with schizophrenia or those in the early stages of developing a psychiatric illness should abstain from engaging in ketamine therapy.
Twitter
Facebook