Meta-Analysis Shows Effectiveness of Ketamine for Bipolar and Unipolar Depression

April 22, 2015 · Posted in Potential Treatments 

ketamine infusion

Ketamine, an anesthetic sometimes used intravenously in the treatment of depression, can bring about rapid onset of antidepressant effects. A new meta-analysis by researcher Michael Bloch and colleagues presented at a recent conference showed that ketamine’s maximum antidepressant effects occur within one day of administration, and its effects remain significant (compared to control conditions) one week following infusion. Ketamine’s effects were diminished in patients taking other medications. There was a trend for better response in patients with bipolar disorder than with unipolar disorder.

Bloch and colleagues analyzed eight earlier studies including a total of 180 participants. In each study, ketamine had been compared to a control condition, either an infusion of saline solution or of midazolam, which mimics ketamine’s sensory effects but does not have antidepressant effects. The researchers are calling for more meta-analyses of ketamine studies to determine which patients respond best to ketamine and how to sustain ketamine’s effects.

Editor’s Note: In another poster presented at the same conference, James Murrough reported that patients with slower processing speed responded best to ketamine. Other findings have shown that those with a history of alcohol abuse and a common genetic variant of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the val-66-val allele of proBDNF, are more likely to respond to ketamine.

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