Role of Ketamine in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing existing literature without systematic review or meta-analytic methods
PubMed 35106397 · doi:10.52965/001c.25091
What was done
The authors conducted a comprehensive narrative review summarizing the literature on ketamine and intranasal esketamine for major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The review describes the epidemiology, risk factors, and pathophysiology of MDD/TRD, ketamine's mechanism of action (NMDA receptor antagonism and AMPA receptor agonism), FDA approval status, and clinical evidence across approved and off-label psychiatric indications.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data, sample sizes, or numerical effect sizes. It reports that intranasal esketamine received FDA approval in 2019 for adult TRD in combination with an oral antidepressant, providing rapid efficacy, safety, and reduction in suicidal ideation. Additionally, intravenous and oral ketamine show therapeutic benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, bipolar depression, and reducing relapse in substance use disorders.
Why it matters
Conventional monoaminergic antidepressants often take weeks to show efficacy and fail in a substantial subset of patients. This paper summarizes evidence supporting ketamine and esketamine as rapid-acting interventions for refractory depression and acute psychiatric crises.
Limits
The review is narrative rather than systematic, with no stated search strategy, risk-of-bias evaluation, or meta-analytic data. The abstract provides no primary data, participant numbers, or quantitative outcome measures.
Cited by
- context Ketamine is FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression.