Clinical trial NCT00680433: Ketamine as an Anaesthetic Agent in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Official title: A Double-blind Randomised, Placebo-controlled Study of Adjunctive Ketamine Anaesthesia in ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE4
Conditions: Major Depressive Episode
Lead sponsor: Northside Clinic, Australia
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Wesley Mission
First posted: 2008-05-20
Enrollment: 83
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Research into the mechanisms underlying memory impairment in ECT suggests that its development may be prevented by the administration of certain medications at the time of ECT treatment. For example there are reasons to believe that ketamine, also used as an anaesthetic agent, may have such protective properties.

In this clinical study patients undergoing a course of ECT will be offered the opportunity to receive a small dose of ketamine (or a placebo) as part of their anaesthetic at the time of ECT treatment. Mood changes and any memory changes will be evaluated to see if the subjects who received ketamine had less memory side effects than those who did not, while still improving their depression.

Detailed description: This study will report on two related trials. In the outpatient trial, patients will be administered adjunctive ketamine at two different doses (0.25mg/kg; 0.5mg/kg), and a placebo (saline), across 3 consecutive sessions within their regular maintenance ECT course. The order of conditions will be randomised across participants. Patients will be required to learn some words and faces 20 minutes prior to ECT, and complete a detailed cognitive battery 4 hours after ECT on each of the 3 occasions. The purpose of this trial is to determine whether ketamine is superior to placebo in reducing cognitive impairment following ECT and what the optimal dose of ketamine is for minimising cognitive and other side effects. Projected sample for this trial is N = 17.

In the inpatient trial, patients will be randomly assigned to receive ketamine or placebo for the duration of the acute ECT course. Patients will be administered a detailed cognitive battery the day before commencing ECT treatment, the day after the 6th treatment, and 1-3 days and 1 month following the end of the acute ECT course. The purpose of this trial is to examine whether patients in the ketamine condition had superior cognitive outcomes to those in the placebo condition during and following a course of ECT. In addition, depressive symptomatology will be examined throughout the ECT course to determine whether ketamine anaesthesia during ECT has antidepressant, as well as, cognitive benefits. Projected sample for this trial is N = 34.

This entry gives details of the main clinical trial: The effects of ketamine across a course of ECT.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Satisfy DSM-IV-TR criteria for Major Depressive Episode
* 18 years or over
* Does not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, rapid cycling bipolar disorder, or current psychotic symptoms
* No known sensitivity to ketamine
* No ECT in the last 3 months
* No drug or alcohol abuse in the last 12 months
* Able to give informed consent
* Score at least 24 on Mini Mental State Examination

Primary outcomes:
measure: Memory tests
timeFrame: Before ECT, after 6 ECT treatments, at the end of the ECT course
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Depression rating scale
timeFrame: Before ECT, after each week of treatment, at the end of the ECT course
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Sydney
country: Australia
facility: Wesley Hospital
state: New South Wales
Study officials:
affiliation: University of New South Wales
name: Colleen K Loo, MB BS FRANZCP, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: McDaniel WW, Sahota AK, Vyas BV, Laguerta N, Hategan L, Oswald J. Ketamine appears associated with better word recall than etomidate after a course of 6 electroconvulsive therapies. J ECT. 2006 Jun;22(2):103-6. doi: 10.1097/00124509-200606000-00005.
citation: Ostroff R, Gonzales M, Sanacora G. Antidepressant effect of ketamine during ECT. Am J Psychiatry. 2005 Jul;162(7):1385-6. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.162.7.1385. No abstract available.
citation: Rasmussen KG, Jarvis MR, Zorumski CF. Ketamine anesthesia in electroconvulsive therapy. Convuls Ther. 1996 Dec;12(4):217-23.
citation: White PF, Way WL, Trevor AJ. Ketamine--its pharmacology and therapeutic uses. Anesthesiology. 1982 Feb;56(2):119-36. doi: 10.1097/00000542-198202000-00007. No abstract available.
citation: Krystal AD, Weiner RD, Dean MD, Lindahl VH, Tramontozzi LA 3rd, Falcone G, Coffey CE. Comparison of seizure duration, ictal EEG, and cognitive effects of ketamine and methohexital anesthesia with ECT. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2003 Winter;15(1):27-34. doi: 10.1176/jnp.15.1.27.
citation: Pigot M, Andrade C, Loo C. Pharmacological attenuation of electroconvulsive therapy--induced cognitive deficits: theoretical background and clinical findings. J ECT. 2008 Mar;24(1):57-67. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0b013e3181616c14.
citation: MacPherson RD, Loo CK. Cognitive impairment following electroconvulsive therapy--does the choice of anesthetic agent make a difference? J ECT. 2008 Mar;24(1):52-6. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0b013e31815ef25b.
citation: Dean RL, Hurducas C, Hawton K, Spyridi S, Cowen PJ, Hollingsworth S, Marquardt T, Barnes A, Smith R, McShane R, Turner EH, Cipriani A. Ketamine and other glutamate receptor modulators for depression in adults with unipolar major depressive disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Sep 12;9(9):CD011612. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011612.pub3.
citation: Loo CK, Katalinic N, Garfield JB, Sainsbury K, Hadzi-Pavlovic D, Mac-Pherson R. Neuropsychological and mood effects of ketamine in electroconvulsive therapy: a randomised controlled trial. J Affect Disord. 2012 Dec 15;142(1-3):233-40. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.04.032. Epub 2012 Aug 2.