UK clinic treats teenagers with severe bladder damage linked to ketamine use
Children as young as 13 have been referred to a specialist clinic at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool with chronic bladder problems associated with sustained ketamine use. The hospital says its most severe cases require dialysis, amid a reported rise in drug-related urology problems among young people.
Children as young as 13 have been referred to a specialist clinic in the UK after developing chronic bladder problems linked to sustained ketamine use, according to the supplied report. Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool opened the country’s first ketamine clinic for young people. The service was established amid what the report describes as a surge in urology problems associated with addiction to the drug.
Doctors at the clinic are treating children with a condition commonly referred to as “ketamine bladder”. The report describes the condition as devastating, but does not set out the full range of symptoms or explain how many patients have been referred. Some cases are severe enough to require dialysis, according to the report.
It does not say how many children have reached that stage, or provide details of their treatment or prospects. The referrals demonstrate that the bladder problems are affecting very young people as well as adults, although the supplied material does not give a national estimate of cases. It also does not provide figures showing how rapidly referrals have increased.
Alder Hey’s clinic is described as the first specialist service of its kind for young people in the UK. The report does not include comments from patients, families, government departments or other hospitals.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.