Ketamine-based anesthesia improves electroconvulsive therapy outcomes: a randomized-controlled study.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and debilitating condition that can be challenging to treat. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is currently the therapeutic gold standard for treatment-resistant MDD. We tested our hypothesis that ketamine-based anesthesia for ECT results in superior improvement in treatment-resistant MDD outcomes compared with propofol-based anesthesia.