Objective: While inflammatory dysregulation is well-documented in major depressive disorder (MDD), its response to esketamine treatment in adolescents remains poorly understood. We aimed to examine the effects of esketamine on the inflammatory cytokines in adolescent MDD. Methods: This randomized, double-blind trial assigned 49 adolescents with MDD to receive three infusions of esketamine or...
Background/Objectives: Intranasal esketamine has emerged as an effective treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), providing rapid symptom relief when conventional antidepressant strategies fail. While its pharmacological efficacy has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials, less attention has been paid to the organizational, relational, and multidisciplinary...
1. Esketamine as monotherapy or adjunct to conventional antidepressants is proven efficacious in clinical trials in adults with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and depression with high risk of...
Ketamine, esketamine, rTMS and ECT are associated with reductions in SI in persons with MDD, with the strongest evidence from randomized controlled trials supporting rapid, short-term effects, particularly for ketamine and esketamine. Further characterization and differentiation of the durability of antisuicidal effects of the aforementioned interventions requires investigation in large-scale,...
Medical Science MonitorFebruary 18, 2026Łukasz Grabarczyk, Sophia Rebekka Wolfermann, Hubert Oniszczuk et al.
Conventional antidepressant drugs are effective in only approximately 50% of patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, offers a promising alternative with an exceptionally rapid antidepressant effect. Although its efficacy in the general TRD population is well established, its use in specific patient subpopulations...
Molecular PsychiatryFebruary 18, 2026Marie Huc, Sara Siddiqi, Mysa Myers et al.1 citation
Esketamine has emerged as a fast-acting antidepressant option for individuals with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Yet, little is known about how sex-assigned-at-birth shapes symptom-specific responses to these interventions, a critical gap in the move toward precision psychiatry. To address this gap, we conducted a pooled analysis of five randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled...
Background: Esketamine nasal spray represents the first FDA approved treatment with a novel mechanism of action for treatment resistant depression (TRD) in decades. While its efficacy has been well established, a thorough understanding of the adverse effect profile remains essential for informed clinical decision making and optimal patient safety. We therefore undertook this systematic review...
BMC PsychiatryFebruary 9, 2026Song-Yuan Liu, Rong Huang, Zhuang Liu et al.
BACKGROUND: In recent years, evidence has suggested that subanesthetic doses of esketamine may have beneficial effects on perioperative anxiety and depression. Concurrently, various factors contribute to a high incidence of perioperative depression and anxiety in the breast cancer patient population. This study aimed to explore the impact of preoperative induction and intraoperative maintenance...
Background/Objectives: Esketamine-related dissociation is a transient, pharmacologically induced altered state that differs from the trait-like pathological dissociation typically observed in trauma-related conditions. While most studies have quantified these effects using the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS), patients' subjective phenomenology and meaning-making remain...
Major Depressive Disorder is a common and disabling psychiatric illness whose pharmacological treatment options have historically been characterized by relatively low response rates. "Treatment-resistant depression" has emerged to describe patients whose depressive symptoms fail to respond to multiple courses of oral antidepressant medications. In 2019, the FDA approved intranasal esketamine as...