IV Ketamine not a ‘silver bullet’ for depression, but does help some
McKnight’s Senior Living February 9, 2024
(HealthDay News) — Nearly half of Veterans Health Administration (VA) patients with treatment-resistant depression who received intravenous (IV) ketamine saw a meaningful drop in depression scores by the end of six weeks of infusions, according to a study published online Jan. 8 in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Paul N. Pfeiffer, MD, from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, and colleagues used data from the VA electronic medical records for 215 patients treated with IV ketamine infusions for depression in fiscal year 2020, with up to 12 months of follow-up.
The researchers found that participants had a mean of 2.1 antidepressant medication trials in the past year and 6.1 antidepressant trials in the 20 years prior to...