Ketamine for resistant depression: a scoping review

Abstract

Introduction. Ketamine is a fast-acting anesthetic with hypnotic properties. Moreover, could potentially improve affective symptoms in patients with refractory depressive disorder. Objective. explore the scientific literature available until December 10, 2021, about the efficacy and safety of ketamine in patients with treatment-refractory major depressive disorder. Material and methods. Scoping review that included PubMed and Scopus. Records of clinical trials and publications with empirical data in English and Spanish were included.

Results. 31 documents and 12 clinical trial records were included: randomized clinical trials (n = 19), non-randomized clinical trials (n = 11) and retrospective cohort studies (n = 1). The sum of participants in clinical trial registries was 1,318. Some 58.3% (7/12) of the records of clinical trials are not yet recruiting the study population, 25% (3/12) are phase 2 studies and only one study is currently in phase four.

Conclusions. The evidence supports the use of ketamine for the treatment of refractory depression. Adverse effects are generally mild and self-limited, although more complex adverse effects require monitoring by experienced personnel. Experimental studies are needed to compare the efficacy and safety of ketamine versus electroconvulsive therapy as the first-line treatment for this entity.