Oral Ketamine for the Treatment of Depression: A randomized controlled trial and meta-analysis
Leo R. Silberbauer, Benjamin Eggerstorfer, Paul Michenthaler, Sabine Reichel, Thomas Stimpfl, Thomas Vanicek, Angela Naderi-Heiden, Siegfried Kasper, Rupert Lanzenberger, Gregor Gryglewski
medRxiv Preprint Server March 21, 2025 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.21.25324252 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Randomized |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Oral ketamine |
| Topics | Ketamine Depression Esketamine |
| Keywords | Depression treatment Mental health management Mood disorder therapy Antidepressant care Psychiatric intervention Oral ketamine At-home ketamine Self-administered ketamine Non-iv ketamine Oral antidepressant Home-based therapy Remote treatment At-home care Accessible treatment Telehealth Convenient therapy Clinical trials Medical studies Randomized trials Meta-analysis Drug development Therapeutic investigation |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Oral ketamine may be an alternative to intravenous and intranasal routes for antidepressant therapy, offering easier administration and established safety in home settings for chronic pain. |
Abstract
Background Ketamine represents a significant advancement in antidepressant therapy, but the commonly used intravenous and intranasal application routes currently limit its availability beyond specialized centers. By contrast, oral ketamine treatment might constitute an alternative that is easy to administer with established safety and efficacy for patients with chronic and severe pain at home.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cites 29
- A Randomized Trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate Antagonist in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression Archives of General Psychiatry August 1, 2006
- NMDAR inhibition-independent antidepressant actions of ketamine metabolites Nature April 24, 2016
- Antidepressant Efficacy of Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Two-Site Randomized Controlled Trial American Journal of Psychiatry August 28, 2013
- Measurement of dissociative states with the Clinician‐Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) Journal of Traumatic Stress 1998
- Synthesizing the Evidence for Ketamine and Esketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression: An International Expert Opinion on the Available Evidence and Implementation American Journal of Psychiatry March 17, 2021
and 24 more in the library