N-methyl-D-aspartate Antagonist (Ketamine) Augmentation of Electroconvulsive Treatment for Severe Major Depression

Abstract

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), is considered the most effective treatment for severe treatment resistant major depressive disorder (MDD), but it requires about 3 weeks of treatments and can cause considerable acute deficits in memory. It would be a major advance in treatment if ECT could work faster with fewer treatments and result in decrease incidence of memory problems. Ketamine is an excellent candidate for augmentation of ECT because of its acute effects on depression, its short half-life, and its safety profile when given at low doses. Ketamine is given as an infusion and could easily be incorporated into the routine management of patients undergoing ECT, but has never been evaluated prospectively in this context. The investigators propose to assess the efficacy, feasibility, tolerability and safety of N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist augmentation of ECT using ketamine.

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