To assess the clinical utility of ketamine as an anesthetic agent for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), based upon recent findings that ketamine may have antidepressant properties. Depressed ECT patients were randomly assigned to receive anesthesia with either ketamine or methohexital. Outcome measures included assessments of depressive severity, cognition, post-anesthesia side effects, and hemodynamics. Twenty one patients were treated with ketamine and 17 with methohexital. There were no significant differences in depression or cognitive outcomes between the two drugs. Additionally, there were no measures of post-anesthesia tolerability or hemodynamics which favored ketamine. Ketamine anesthesia does not accelerate the antidepressant effect of ECT or diminish the cognitive side effects, at least as measured in this study. Furthermore, there is no apparent benefit of ketamine for speed or quality of post-ECT recovery, and it is associated with higher systolic blood pressures after the treatments. Ketamine is associated with longer motor seizure duration than methohexital.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.12.027DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

ketamine
9
electroconvulsive therapy
8
ketamine methohexital
8
side effects
8
randomized comparison
4
comparison ketamine
4
ketamine versus
4
methohexital
4
versus methohexital
4
methohexital anesthesia
4

Similar Publications

Rigid bronchoscopy (RB) is the gold standard for managing central airway obstruction (CAO), a life-threatening condition caused by both malignant and benign etiologies. Anesthetic management is challenging as it requires balancing deep sedation with maintaining spontaneous breathing to avoid airway collapse. There is no consensus on the optimal anesthetic approach, with options including general anesthesia with neuromuscular blockers or spontaneous assisted ventilation (SAV).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

From Serendipity to Precision: Integrating AI, Multi-Omics, and Human-Specific Models for Personalized Neuropsychiatric Care.

Biomedicines

January 2025

HUN-REN-SZTE Neuroscience Research Group, Hungarian Research Network, University of Szeged (HUN-REN-SZTE), Danube Neuroscience Research Laboratory, Tisza Lajos krt. 113, H-6725 Szeged, Hungary.

: The dual forces of structured inquiry and serendipitous discovery have long shaped neuropsychiatric research, with groundbreaking treatments such as lithium and ketamine resulting from unexpected discoveries. However, relying on chance is becoming increasingly insufficient to address the rising prevalence of mental health disorders like depression and schizophrenia, which necessitate precise, innovative approaches. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, induced pluripotent stem cells, and multi-omics have the potential to transform this field by allowing for predictive, patient-specific interventions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Postoperative neurocognitive dysfunction (PND) is a prevalent and debilitating complication in elderly surgical patients, characterized by persistent cognitive decline that negatively affects recovery and quality of life. As the aging population grows, the rising number of elderly surgical patients has made PND an urgent clinical challenge. Despite increasing research efforts, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PND remain inadequately characterized, underscoring the need for a more integrated framework to guide targeted interventions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Anesthesia depth monitoring during opioid free anesthesia - a prospective observational study.

BMC Anesthesiol

January 2025

Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Halland Hospital Halmstad, Lasarettsvägen, Halmstad, SE-30581, Sweden.

Background: Patients undergoing general anesthesia are more frequently monitored for depth of anesthesia using processed electroencephalography. Opioid-free anesthesia is nowadays an accepted modality for general anesthesia, however it is unclear how to interpret data from processed electroencephalography when using a mixture of non-opioid anesthetic drugs. Our objective was to describe density spectral array patterns and compare processed encephalographic data indices between opioid-free and routine opioid based anesthesia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preclinical studies and anecdotal case reports support the potential therapeutic benefit of low-dose oral ketamine as a treatment of clinical symptoms in Rett syndrome (RTT); however, no controlled studies have been conducted in RTT to evaluate safety, tolerability and efficacy.

Design: This was a sequentially initiated, dose-escalating cohort, placebo-controlled, double blind, randomized sequence, cross-over study of oral ketamine in 6-12-year-old girls with RTT to evaluate short-term safety and tolerability and explore efficacy.

Methods: Participants were randomized to either five days treatment with oral ketamine or matched placebo, followed by a nine-day wash-out period and then crossed-over to the opposite treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!