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Effects of Different Subanesthetic Doses of (S)-Ketamine on Neuropsychology, Psychopathology, and State of Consciousness in Man

Torsten Passie, Matthias Karst, Birgitt Wiese, Hinderk M. Emrich, Udo Schneider

Neuropsychobiology 2005 DOI: 10.1159/000085724 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Randomized placebo-controlled trial Peer reviewed
Sample size 12
Population Healthy male volunteers
Intervention (S)-ketamine
Dose low dose/high dose
Topics Ketamine Esketamine
Keywords Neuropsychology Psychopathology Schizophrenia object-oriented programming Placebo Antagonist Clinical psychology Anesthesia Cognition
Citations 35
Key findings Subanaesthetic doses of (S)-ketamine produce significant, dose-dependent impairment in divided and sustained attention and psychopathology, but not in most other neuropsychological tasks.

Abstract

This is the first neuropsychological study using the S-enantiomer of the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist ketamine. In 2 randomized placebo-controlled trials we studied effects of two different doses of (S)-ketamine (low dose/high dose) on neuropsychological functions and psychopathology in 12 healthy male volunteers. Impairment was measured via standardized neuropsychological tests. Results indicate that both subanaesthetic doses produce only nonsignificant impairment in most of the tasks. Tasks involving divided and sustained attention as well as scores for objective and subjective psychopathology show significant impairment in a dose-dependent manner. Implications of these findings for the neuropsychology of attention and schizophrenia are discussed.

Comparable studies

Other randomized controlled trials on ketamine, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Subanesthetic Effects of the Noncompetitive NMDA Antagonist, Ketamine, in Humans Healthy human subjects recruited from the community 1994 Randomized controlled trial n = 19
Antidepressant Efficacy of Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Two-Site Randomized Controlled Trial Patients with treatment-resistant major depression experiencing a major depressive episode 2013 Randomized controlled trial n = 73
Remifentanil-induced Postoperative Hyperalgesia and Its Prevention with Small-dose Ketamine Patients undergoing major abdominal surgery 2005 Randomized controlled trial n = 75
Efficacy of Intravenous Ketamine for Treatment of Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Patients with chronic PTSD related to a range of trauma exposures 2014 Randomized controlled trial n = 41
Ketamine-Induced Deficits in Auditory and Visual Context-Dependent Processing in Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers 2000 Single-blind placebo-controlled study n = 20

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