Ketamine Treatment Options

A Multi-Center, Phase II, Randomized, Double-Blind, Prospective, Active Placebo-Controlled Trial of Sub-Anesthetic Intravenous Infusion of Ketamine to Treat Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Subjects with Parkinson's Disease. Read Less

Depression is the leading cause of disability globally (1, 2). One-third to one-half of patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) do not achieve remission even after multiple antidepressant trials (3). Ketamine is a commonly-used FDA-approved anesthetic medication that at subanesthetic doses leads to rapid antidepressant and anti-suicidal ideation effects in hours, rather than weeks, following administration. Despite these promising findings, a key limitation of ketamine treatment is that it only yields an antidepressant response in approximately 50% of those treated. The goal of this project is to A) elucidate ketamine's mechanism of action and B) identify biomarkers predicting treatment outcome to ketamine which could be used to match patients to treatment based on the likelihood of effectiveness at the individual level. Data from animal models suggests that ketamine acts by enhancing the connections between neurons through a process known as synaptic plasticity (4-7), and that these biological changes are responsible for the sustained behavioral effects of ketamine (8). A newly available tool allows us to image the density of these synaptic connections in the living brain using PET (positron emission tomography) imaging with a radiotracer called \[11C\]UCB-J, which is a marker of synaptic density. We propose to directly quantify synaptic density in depressed patients before and after a course of ketamine, to examine changes in density following treatment. In exploratory analyses, we will examine synaptic density as a mediator of the sustained antidepressant effects of ketamine and as a predictor of treatment outcome. To study these questions, we will quantify synaptic density using PET imaging before and after a course of 4 sequential intravenous infusions of ketamine administered over a two week period. Study participation involves an inpatient stay of approximately three weeks at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at no cost. Read Less

The proposed project tests the efficacy of glutamate modulators in non-depressed individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD); the primary hypothesis is that the glutamate modulator being tested reduces heavy drinking days compared to the active control. It also aims to investigate, using a 2 by 2 factorial (2x2) design, the hypothesis that the effects of the glutamate modulator are enhanced when combined with behavioral treatment. Read Less

This study evaluates whether ketamine, given as part of an anesthetic, improves depression symptoms in depressed patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Half of participants will receive a ketamine infusion during surgery, while the other half will receive a placebo (normal saline) during surgery. Read Less

To determine if a pre-operative ketamine infusion would provide a similar decrease in post-operative analgesic and opioid consumption as intra-operative ketamine, but expand the monitoring period through the post-operative phase up to 90 days. Hypothesis is that pre-operative ketamine infusion will lead to a decrease in narcotic consumption from baseline following an elective cervical or lumbar fusion, leading to increased functionality and quality of life for these patients. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of SLS-002 (intranasal racemic ketamine) in addition to standard of care on symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and suicidality, in participants who are assessed to be at imminent risk for suicide, as measured by the change from baseline on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score at 24 hours post first dose. Read Less

Medically healthy Veterans ages 21-75 that have been diagnosed with Depression will get up to 6 treatments of Ketamine infusions, weekly. After treatment is completed, follow up will occur at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completion of infusions to evaluate the longer term effects of ketamine. Read Less

This study will help the investigators learn more about the best way to give anesthesia for these kinds of surgery. The investigators will be using 2 different groups of medications that is commonly used in ACDF surgery, one group has a Narcotic, and the other group does not. The investigators wish to test whether a narcotic free anesthetic will result in an overall safer surgery, better patient recovery, and satisfaction. The investigators think also that eliminating the Narcotic from the Anesthetic regimen will allow patients to recover faster after surgery , and consume less pain medicines in the postoperative period. Read Less

Treatment resistant depression (TRD) is a major public health problem. Current therapeutic options for this patient population remain limited. With all available treatments, only a sub-set of those patients who achieve an antidepressant response are likely to achieve treatment-induced remission. The need for antidepressant medication that can provide both rapid and long lasting relief of TRD symptoms is widely recognized. There is new evidence that drugs that block NMDA glutamate receptors (NMDA antagonists) are promising candidates for meeting this need. Existing studies in TRD have used only a low-dose, brief infusion of ketamine that would not be expected to re-sensitize the NMDA receptor; in agreement with this theory, these prior studies have found only temporary improvements of depression. Our key hypothesis is that a higher-dose, longer-term ketamine infusion, such as that used in chronic pain studies, would provide a more robust and lasting improvement from depression. Accordingly, we will test whether a 100-hour ketamine infusion would be more effective than the standard 40-minute ketamine infusion currently used in other TRD studies. We will randomize subjects to one of 2 arms: (1) 100-hour (+/- 4 hours) ketamine infusion plus clonidine for the entire infusion (2) 40-minute ketamine infusion (plus clonidine) following a 100+/- hour saline infusion. All subjects will receive clonidine, an alpha-2 agonist, to minimize side effects of ketamine (namely, brief/mild psychotic and cognitive symptoms). Read Less

The goal of the study is to conduct a comparative randomized trial of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) vs. ketamine for patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD) in a real world setting with patient reported outcomes as primary and secondary outcome measures. Read Less

The primary objective is to determine the tolerability and efficacy of a low-dose ketamine infusion for the treatment of Levodopa-Induced dyskinesias (LID), both acutely and during post-infusion evaluation (week 2-6), as measured by a change in patient diaries of dyskinesia and the UDysRS. Secondary objectives include observing the effects of ketamine on various symptoms of Parkinson's disease and Levodopa side effects. This includes the duration of "off," "on without dyskinesia," and "troublesome dyskinesia" time during waking hours, effects on chronic and acute pain, quality of life, and other general PD symptoms as noted in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. There is no highly effective treatment for levodopa-induced dyskinesia. This research study will use intermittent infusions of ketamine, on 10 volunteer subjects, which could provide significant improvement in dyskinesia utilizing a novel mechanism of action compared to current treatment strategies. Positive results in this study could lead to new novel treatments for dyskinesia and further development for other PD symptoms such as depression and pain. Read Less

The objective of the current study is to investigate the safety, efficacy, and feasibility of multiple doses of intranasal (IN) ketamine for suicidal ideation Veterans. Read Less