Rapid antidepressant effect of S-ketamine in schizophrenia.
Lucie Bartova, Konstantinos Papageorgiou, Ivan Milenkovic, Markus Dold, Ana Weidenauer, Matthaeus Willeit, Dietmar Winkler, Siegfried Kasper
European Neuropsychopharmacology August 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.05.007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | Young female inpatient with schizophrenia and severe post-psychotic depression |
| Intervention | S-ketamine |
| Duration | 3 weeks (infusions thrice weekly) |
| Topics | Ketamine Esketamine |
| Keywords | Post-psychotic depression Schizophrenia |
| Key findings | In a young woman with schizophrenia and severe post-psychotic depression, intravenous S-ketamine given three times weekly for three weeks was followed by sustained remission of depressive symptoms and suicidality, with no relevant psychotic or dissociative symptoms during treatment. The authors propose that S-ketamine may be safe and effective in psychotic disorders and should be studied more widely. |
Abstract
Rapid anti-suicidal and antidepressant effects of ketamine have repeatedly been confirmed in unipolar and bipolar depression. Although meaningful antidepressant efficacy of ketamine has also been shown in depressed patients with a history of psychotic symptoms, its administration in psychotic disorders has largely been neglected due to its potential to exacerbate dissociative or psychotic symptoms. Presenting a case of a young female inpatient suffering from schizophrenia with a severe post-psychotic depression, we demonstrate a robust anti-suicidal and antidepressant effect of S-ketamine infusions administered thrice weekly for 3 weeks in total. Importantly, no relevant psychotic or dissociative symptoms occurred during the whole augmentation treatment period leading to a sustained remission of depressive symptoms and suicidality. Our safe and effective experience with intravenous S-ketamine might encourage researchers and clinicians to widen its administration range beyond the diagnosis of depression to enrich the current knowledge of ketamine effects in psychotic disorders.
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on esketamine, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- 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
- An update on ketamine and its two enantiomers as rapid-acting antidepressants Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics December 4, 2018
- Ketamine for negative and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia: the evidence so far. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2026
- The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor hypothesis of ketamine's antidepressant action: evidence and controversies. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences July 29, 2024
- Uso de sustancias psicoactivas como tratamiento de la psicosis Revista de Neurología 2023