Efficacy and safety of ketamine for the treatment of depressive symptoms in palliative care: A systematic review.

Objectives: Ketamine has a fast onset of action that may offer a paradigm change for depression management at the end of life. We aimed to synthesize evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of ketamine in depression treatment within a broad palliative care concept.

Methods: We searched seven databases and included studies on the safety and efficacy of ketamine for depression treatment in patients diagnosed with any life-threatening disease.