Posted by SLS on February 6, 2012, at 8:25:54
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22297150
Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Jan 30. [Epub ahead of print]
Replication of Ketamine's Antidepressant Efficacy in Bipolar Depression: A Randomized Controlled Add-On Trial.
Zarate CA Jr, Brutsche NE, Ibrahim L, Franco-Chaves J, Diazgranados N, Cravchik A, Selter J, Marquardt CA, Liberty V, Luckenbaugh DA.
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland.
AbstractBACKGROUND:
Currently, no pharmacological treatments for bipolar depression exist that exert rapid (within hours) antidepressant or antisuicidal effects. We previously reported that intravenous administration of the N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist ketamine produced rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression. The present study sought to replicate this finding in an independent sample.
METHODS:
In this double-blind, randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled study, 15 subjects with DSM-IV bipolar I or II depression maintained on therapeutic levels of lithium or valproate received a single intravenous infusion of either ketamine hydrochloride (.5 mg/kg) or placebo on 2 test days 2 weeks apart. The primary outcome measure was the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, which was used to rate overall depressive symptoms at baseline; at 40, 80, 110, and 230 minutes postinfusion; and on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, and 14 postinfusion.
RESULTS:
Within 40 minutes, depressive symptoms, as well as suicidal ideation, significantly improved in subjects receiving ketamine compared with placebo (d = .89, 95% confidence interval = .61-1.16, and .98, 95% confidence interval = .64-1.33, respectively); this improvement remained significant through day 3. Seventy-nine percent of subjects responded to ketamine and 0% responded to placebo at some point during the trial. The most common side effect was dissociative symptoms, which occurred only at the 40-minute time point.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study replicated our previous finding that patients with bipolar depression who received a single ketamine infusion experienced a rapid and robust antidepressant response. In addition, we found that ketamine rapidly improved suicidal ideation in these patients.
Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PMID:
22297150
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