Ketamine Treatment Options in Minnesota

About one-third of depressed patients will not get better after multiple antidepressant treatments. This situation put a high burden on patients with depression due to worsening quality of life and increasing health care costs. Difficult-to-treat depression might be even worse among Veterans given that the frequency of depressive symptoms is 2 to 5 times higher than among the general US population. A breakthrough discovery happened in recent years when investigators found that one infusion from an old anesthetic named ketamine showed high efficacy and rapid antidepressant effect (sometimes within hours) but lasted only up to a week. The investigators propose to study if multiple infusions of ketamine can provide greater and longer antidepressant effects than one infusion. If that is the case, multiple infusions could be an alternative to relieve depressive symptoms that do not response to multiple antidepressant drugs. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the use of sedative ketamine to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Veterans with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Efficacy of ketamine to reduce symptoms of depression and/or PTSD * Safety of ketamine to treat depression and/or PTSD in TBI Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either ketamine or midazolam (active placebo) twice a week for 3 weeks. During participation, subjects will be interviewed, have lab tests, and complete rating scales, and questionnaires. Read Less

This is an open-label, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial of up to 6 months treatment of adjunctive intranasal (IN) esketamine (ESK) vs. adjunctive aripiprazole (ARI) in Veterans with unipolar Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). This study will assess the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of adjunctive IN ESK in comparison to ARI, one of the best studied and most widely used adjunctive therapies for TRD. The primary hypothesis is that participants receiving adjunctive IN ESK will be significantly more likely to achieve remission after six weeks of treatment as compared to those who receive adjunctive ARI. Depressive symptoms will be assessed by central raters (CR), blinded to treatment assignment, using the clinician rated version of the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-C16), a well-validated tool that is commonly used and is easily translated across other depression inventory scales. The study is powered to detect an absolute difference in remission rates of 10%, or larger, at 6 weeks. Additional outcomes of interest include symptom reduction across 6 months of randomized therapy, side effects and other tolerability indices, attrition rates and measures of quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to test the safety and efficacy of repeated doses of ketamine as compared to placebo, in reducing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in an active duty military and Veteran population. Read Less

The purpose of this research study is to find out if the medication known as ketamine can help the symptoms of depression. This drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but the investigators will use it for a non-FDA approved reason (depression). Read Less

Ketamine is a commonly used anesthetic medication which is used for induction of anesthesia as well as as an analgesic. It has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties which may decrease post-operative complications following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass that are thought to associated with inflammation. Some studies have shown that ketamine does decrease these complications when compared with anesthetics that are not commonly used in our cardiac anesthesiology practice. Propofol is another commonly used anesthetic medication which is used for induction of anesthesia. Ketamine has not been compared with propofol for potential to reduce post-operative complications associated with the inflammatory process. This study aims to see if ketamine will reduce the incidence of cognitive dysfunction, delirium, and renal dysfunction in comparison with propofol. In addition, the hemodynamic impact of ketamine compared propofol will be investigated. Read Less

This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of the drug, Ketamine, in combination with Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy for people suffering from PTSD. Participation in the study includes Ketamine infusions, which occur once a week for three weeks. PE therapy sessions will be scheduled one day after each infusion, and may continue up to 12 weeks. After completely therapy, there will be two monthly follow-up assessment visits. Read Less

The hypothesis of this study is that a Ketamine / Propofol mixture will produce more stable hemodynamics as compared to Etomidate during emergent intubations in the intensive care unit. Patients that require a breathing tube to be placed in the ICU will be randomized to receIve either a Ketamine / Propofol mixture or Etomidate for sedation in order to place the breathing tube. Read Less

This study will test the use of ketamine for treatment of depression in adolescents that have not responded to other treatments. We will also examine neurobiological mechanisms of treatment. Read Less

The relationship between depression and trauma is well established. Co-occuring depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with more severe symptoms and lower levels of functioning. Veterans with both depression and PTSD have been shown to be at much higher risk of suicide than individuals with only one of these disorders. Ketamine has been shown to have rapid antidepressant effects and also therapeutic action over PTSD symptoms. The purpose of this study is to see whether ketamine, when given as repeated infusions, can produce quick and sustained improvement in depression and PTSD symptoms for individuals who have not had their symptoms effectively treated by current treatments. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness and safety of ketamine and etomidate during rapid sequence intubation (RSI). Read Less

This research study is being done to figure out the best approach to treatment of pre-hospital agitation. It will compare two tiered dosing treatment protocols, one ketamine-based and one midazolam-based. Agitation is a state of extreme emotional disturbance where patients can become physically aggressive or violent, endangering themselves and those who are caring for them. Often chemical substances or severe mental illness are involved in this level of agitation. Specifically, the investigators are interested in studying agitation that is treated in the prehospital setting by paramedics. This study's hypothesis is a ketamine-based protocol will achieve a faster time to adequate sedation than a midazolam-based protocol for treatment of agitation in the prehospital environment. This study will observe the natural history of an emergency medical services standard operating procedure change from a ketamine-based protocol to a midazolam-based protocol. Read Less