Ketamine may be more effective than electroshock for treatment resistant depression

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-06-26 01:00

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A new US and UK analysis of the results of a previous trial testing ketamine against electroconvulsive therapy for treatment-resistant depression in 365 patients found ketamine was more effective in reducing depressive symptoms among people with moderately severe or severe depression. Among those with very severe depression, electroconvulsive therapy was initially more effective than ketamine at reducing symptoms, but by the end of treatment, both methods achieved similar results. People with moderately severe or severe depression may be better off if treated with ketamine rather than electroconvulsive therapy, the authors conclude.

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conference: JAMA Network Open

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Organisation/s: UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA

Funder: The ELEKT-D: Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) vs Ketamine in Patients With Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) (ELEKT-D) trial was funded by award TRD-1511-33648 from the PCORI (Dr Anand). Dr Jha is supported by career development award MH126202 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the O’Donnell Clinical Neuroscience Scholar Award from the UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr Costi is funded by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship. Dr Mathew is supported through the use of resources and facilities at the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, Texas, and receives support from The Menninger Clinic. Dr Reti receives support from The Jager Family Foundation.

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