Ketamine use may lead to liver cancer
Popular recreational drug also blamed for shrinking users' bladders, study finds
Ketamine users may be damaging their livers and shrinking their bladders, a new study of abusers of the illegal recreational drug has found.
In two of the cases in the study, backed by Chinese University, the patients were found to have liver fibrosis, leaving them with livers resembling those of 60-year-old alcoholics.
If it goes untreated, say for three to five years, it may have developed into liver cancer by the time symptoms emerge, and a transplant may be required
In the worst-case scenario, abusers might develop liver cancer, a medical specialist warned.
"If it goes untreated, say for three to five years, it may have developed into liver cancer by the time symptoms emerge, and a transplant may be required," said Professor Grace Wong Lai-hung, a gastroenterology and hepatology specialist at the university.
The researchers found that if ketamine users quit, they would halve their chances of developing liver problems. However, it was largely unknown how abuse of the drug damaged the liver, Wong said.
In the study, 305 abusers aged 16 to 29 who suffered from ketamine-related urinary tract dysfunction were examined, said the research team at the Youth Urological Treatment Centre, which was set up by Chinese University with government funding in 2011.
Six out of 10 subjects were women. All had a six-year history of ketamine abuse and had shown symptoms of urinary tract dysfunction for 14 months.