Ketamine for Treatment‐Resistant bipolar depression—A reality check!
Bipolar Disorders March 28, 2023 DOI: 10.1111/bdi.13324 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 49 |
| Population | People with treatment-resistant bipolar depression across three single-infusion randomized controlled trials |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Duration | Antidepressant effect lasting for 3 days |
| Topics | Depression Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key findings | Three single-infusion randomized controlled trials (n = 49) suggest that intravenous ketamine has an antidepressant effect in treatment-resistant bipolar depression lasting about three days, but the authors state that data on ketamine's efficacy in this condition remain minimal. Serial infusions have been reported to prolong antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression. |
Abstract
Ketamine is a novel drug used for treatment- resistant depression. The initial randomized controlled trials (RCTs) established intravenous (IV) ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects for refrac-tory major depression, leading to its widespread use. However, the data for ketamine's efficacy in treatment- resistant bipolar depression (TRBD) remain minimal. There are 3 single infusion RCTs ( n = 49) suggesting antidepressant effect lasting for 3 days. 1 Although serial IV ketamine infusion studies have shown to prolong the antidepressant effect in treatment- resistant depression
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on ketamine for depression, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesizing the Evidence for Ketamine and Esketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression: An International Expert Opinion on the Available Evidence and Implementation Adults with treatment-resistant depression | 2021 | Review | |
| Ketamine: a paradigm shift for depression research and treatment | 2019 | Review | |
| Rapid‐acting antidepressant ketamine, its metabolites and other candidates: A historical overview and future perspective | 2019 | Review | |
| Ketamine: A tale of two enantiomers | 2020 | Review | |
| Molecular mechanisms underlying the antidepressant actions of arketamine: beyond the NMDA receptor | 2021 | Review |