Esketamine hydrochloride in the management of moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms in patients undergoing multiple wound repair surgeries: A multi-centre randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Clinical and translational medicine March 1, 2026 Xiaomeng Yu, Tianqi Shen, Ting Zhang et al.
In a multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 130 adults undergoing repeated wound repair surgeries received either low-dose esketamine (0.2-0.3 mg/kg) or saline intravenously during surgery. The esketamine group showed significantly higher response rates (≥50% reduction in MADRS score) on postoperative days 1-3 (e.g., 53.8% vs. 26.2% on day 1) and higher remission rates (MADRS ≤10) compared to placebo. Esketamine also improved anxiety and depression scores by day 3 without increasing neuropsychiatric adverse events within 30 days. The authors conclude that intraoperative low-dose esketamine rapidly alleviates early postoperative anxiety and depressive symptoms in this population.