Am J Psychiatry. 2013 October 1; 170(10): 1134–1142. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13030392.
James W. Murrough, M.D., Dan V. Iosifescu, M.D., Lee C. Chang, M.D., Rayan K. Al Jurdi, M.D., Charles M. Green, Ph.D., Andrew M. Perez, M.D., Syed Iqbal, M.D., Sarah Pillemer, B.A., Alexandra Foulkes, M.S., Asim Shah, M.D., Dennis S. Charney, M.D., and Sanjay J. Mathew, M.D.
Department of Psychiatry, the Department of Neuroscience, the Department of Anesthesiology, the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, and the Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York; the Department of Anesthesiology and the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston; and the Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Abstract
Objective—Ketamine, a glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has shown rapid antidepressant effects, but small study groups and inadequate control conditions in prior studies have precluded a definitive conclusion. The authors evaluated the rapid antidepressant efficacy of ketamine in a large group of patients with treatment-resistant major depression.
Method—This was a two-site, parallel-arm, randomized controlled trial of a single infusion of ketamine compared to an active placebo control condition, the anesthetic midazolam. Patients with treatment-resistant major depression experiencing a major depressive episode were randomly assigned under double-blind conditions to receive a single intravenous infusion of ketamine or midazolam in a 2:1 ratio (N=73). The primary outcome was change in depression severity 24 hours after drug administration, as assessed by the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS).
Results—The ketamine group had greater improvement in the MADRS score than the midazolam group 24 hours after treatment. After adjustment for baseline scores and site, the MADRS score was lower in the ketamine group than in the midazolam group by 7.95 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.20 to 12.71). The likelihood of response at 24 hours was greater with ketamine than with midazolam (odds ratio, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.21 to 4.14), with response rates of 64% and 28%, respectively.
Conclusions—Ketamine demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in an optimized study design, further supporting NMDA receptor modulation as a novel mechanism for accelerated improvement in severe and chronic forms of depression. More information on response durability and safety is required before implementation in clinical practice.
