Prolonged Remission of Major Depressive Disorder After Single Nitrous Oxide Inhalation Treatment
Peter Nagele, Frank Brown, Victoria Bass, D. Yohanna
Frontiers in Psychiatry July 17, 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00692 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | Patient with severe recurrent treatment-resistant major depression |
| Intervention | Nitrous oxide inhalation |
| Duration | More than 1 month follow-up |
| Topics | Depression |
| Key findings | A single nitrous oxide inhalation treatment led to full remission lasting more than one month in a patient with severe recurrent treatment-resistant major depression. |
Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N2O, laughing gas) has shown early promise as a rapidly acting treatment for treatmentresistant major depression (1–3). Antidepressant effects of nitrous oxide in these studies started within 2 h and lasted up to 1 week. Due to the study design, however, it was impossible to determine whether antidepressant efficacy lasted beyond 1 week after nitrous oxide administration. There is currently no evidence showing how long antidepressant effects of nitrous oxide last. Here, we present a case where a patient with severe recurrent treatment resistant major depression experienced full remission, which lasted more than 1 month, after a single nitrous oxide inhalation treatment.