Conditions: Depression Suicide
Keywords: Depression Unipolar Bipolar Suicidal
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 12
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this research study was to find out if the medication known as ketamine could help the symptoms of depression. This drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an anesthetic agent; however, it is not approved for use in depression treatment. The FDA allowed the use of this drug in this research study.

Detailed description:
This was a single-arm, open-label trial conducted in two phases. During the acute-phase, i.v. ketamine was administered thrice-weekly for up to 2 weeks.Those who achieved depressive symptom remission (Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MÅDRS)) total score less than or equal to 9 measured 24h after any acute-phase infusion) received continuation-phase treatment that consisted of once-weekly i.v. ketamine infusions for 4 additional weeks. Remission could occur after any of the 6 acute-phase infusions, at which point the next infusion was the first (of four) continuation-phase infusions. Individuals who remitted during acute-phase and completed continuation-phase treatment had 4 additional weekly post-continuation follow-up visits.Those who responded to i.v. ketamine (less than or equal to 50% reduction from baseline in MÅDRS total score) but did not remit during acute-phase were not eligible for continuation-phase treatment. Suicidal ideation was assessed clinically throughout the trial, supplemented by scores on the MÅDRS suicide item.

Arms:
arm 1: This trial was conducted in 2 phases. During the acute-phase, i.v. ketamine was administered thrice-weekly for up to 2 weeks.Those who achieved depressive symptom remission received continuation-phase treatment that consisted of once-weekly i.v. ketamine infusions for 4 additional weeks. Remission could occur after any of the 6 acute-phase infusions, at which point the next infusion was the first (of four) continuation-phase infusions. Individuals who remitted during acute-phase and completed continuation-phase treatment had 4 additional weekly post-continuation follow-up visits.

Interventions: intervention 1: Ketamine
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 0.3 mg/kg/hr of ketamine infused for 100 minutes

Protocol document: