Ketamine found effective in treatment-resistant depression
In a clinical trial of 403 patients, Massachusetts General Brigham investigators found that 55 percent of those who received ketamine treatment experienced a sustained improvement in depressive symptoms without major side effects. The new MGB-led study compared subanesthetic intravenous ketamine to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the treatment of non-psychotic, treatment-resistant depression. The results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “ECT has been the gold standard for treating severe depression for over 80 years,” said Amit Anand, director of Psychiatry Translational Clinical Trials at Mass General Brigham and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “But it is also a controversial treatment because it can cause memory loss, requires anesthesia, and is associated with social stigma. This is the largest study comparing ketamine and ECT treatments for depression that has ever been done, and the only one that also measured impacts to memory.” Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of...