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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)

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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.

Comparable studies

Other case reports and case series on depression, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Electroconvulsive Therapy, Ketamine, and Esketamine in a Patient with Major Depressive Disorder and Multiple Comorbidities: A Case Report over 10-year Treatment from Adolescence to Adulthood. A patient with treatment-resistant depression and comorbid generalized anxiety... 2025 Case report n = 1
Oral Administration of the NMDA Receptor Antagonist S-Ketamine as Add-On Therapy of Depression: A Case Series Four depressed patients taking standard antidepressants 2009 Case series n = 4
A longitudinal case series of IM ketamine for patients with severe and enduring eating disorders and comorbid treatment‐resistant depression Patients with enduring eating disorders and treatment-resistant depression 2021 Case series n = 4
Effects of intranasal (S)-ketamine on Veterans with co-morbid treatment-resistant depression and PTSD: A retrospective case series Veterans with co-morbid depression and PTSD 2022 Retrospective case series n = 35
Case report: Intramuscular ketamine or intranasal esketamine as a treatment in four patients with major depressive disorder and comorbid anorexia nervosa Patients with anorexia nervosa and a comorbid depressive disorder treated at a private... 2023 Case report n = 4

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