Ketamine Treatment Options

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, demyelinating and degenerative disease of the central nervous system and, after trauma, is the most common cause of disability in young adults, affecting more than 400,000 individuals in the US. Of all the symptoms that can occur with MS, chronic fatigue is the most common and disabling, reported by at least 75% of patients at some point. Fatigue limits patients' daily activities, and challenges employment, resulting in substantial socioeconomic consequences. Despite this negative impact, fatigue treatments have been inconsistently studied, in part due to poorly understood underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Yet to be defined biological processes and lack of clear treatment targets have also hampered the development of drugs for fatigue. As a result, there are no medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of MS fatigue. The investigators recently reported that riluzole, a medication with anti-glutamatergic effects, increased the fatigue severity in patients with relapsing MS who had participated in a clinical trial evaluating potential neuroprotective effects of riluzole versus placebo. Three other clinic trials which examined memantine effects on cognition in patient with MS also reported worsening fatigue as a major side effect. Memantine main mechanism of action is blocking the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor. These observations prompted the investigators that glutamatergic transmission probably plays an important role in fatigue pathogenesis and modulating these pathways could have potential therapeutic effect on MS-related fatigue. A recent paper reported that ketamine, an NMDA receptor blocker with different kinetics compared to memantine, had a strong and prolonged effect in reducing fatigue in bipolar patients who participated in a clinical trial, evaluating anti-depressive effects of ketamine versus placebo. Interestingly, the effect of ketamine on fatigue was independent of its antidepressant effects. The primary objective of this study is to determine if modulating glutamatergic transmission with ketamine is safe and efficacious in improving MS-related fatigue. These objectives will be answered in a proof of concept, randomized controlled trial of ketamine versus an active placebo (midazolam) in patients with relapsing or progressive MS who have clinically significant fatigue. 18 patients with MS and reported fatigue, will be randomized 2:1 to one infusion of ketamine 0.5 mg/kg over 40 minutes versus one infusion of midazolam 0.05 mg/kg over 40 minutes. Midazolam is chosen as an active placebo to keep the participants blinded to participants' medication assignment. Primary outcome of the study will be Daily Fatigue Severity measured daily from day one through day seven post-infusion. Secondary outcomes of the study include other fatigue questionnaires, depression and sleepiness. The length of study will be around 28 days. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to compare pain threshold, pain tolerance, and wind up, as measured by QST, before and after a single dose of ketamine infusion under two clinical conditions: chronic pain patients on opioid therapy and chronic pain patients without opioid therapy. Read Less

This is a multi-site, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the acute efficacy of brexpiprazole or placebo in combination with intranasal ketamine added to ongoing, stable, and adequate antidepressant therapy (ADT) in the treatment of adults with Major Depressive Disorder with Treatment Resistant Depression. Read Less

We will be investigating the use of ketamine in sedation for endoscopic procedures, specifically outpatient endoscopy including esophagoduodenoscopy (EGD) and colonoscopy. Participants will be randomized to one of two arms including conventional moderate sedation with midazolam and fentanyl or the ketamine arm. They will then undergo the planned procedure. Physicians preforming the procedure will be surveyed following the procedure and patients will be surveyed twice, once after meeting criteria for discharge on day of the procedure and a second time 48 hours following the procedure. Read Less

The aim of the study is to provide insight into the impact of the immunosuppressant drug sirolimus, on the antidepressant effects of the prototypal rapid-acting antidepressant medication, ketamine. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to test the effects of the medication ketamine and the medication called nitroprusside in patients with major depression. Ketamine has both good and bad effects. Some studies have shown that ketamine improves depression. However, studies have also shown that it causes strange and sometimes unpleasant sensations referred to "psychotic" or "dissociative" symptoms. An example of a psychotic symptom would be hearing or seeing something that in reality is not there. The study team would like to see if nitroprusside can prevent the reported bad effects of ketamine without blocking the reported good effects. This might make ketamine a better treatment for depression. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine the tolerability and short-term efficacy of a single ketamine infusion for the treatment of adolescents with 1) medication-refractory major depressive disorder (MDD) and/or 2) medication-refractory anxiety disorders (social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and/or separation anxiety disorder). Read Less

This study is part of a larger overall study that seeks to characterize clinical and pharmacological neuroimaging biomarkers. The purpose of this registered protocol is understand the effect of emotion on cognitions by specifically examining the effect of reward processing on working memory in patients with schizophrenia. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of pain on facilitating long-term auditory memory in the presence and absence of distinct intravenous anesthetics. The ability to identify previously presented words from a list assessed the degree of memory formation. In a subset of subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify the neural correlates of memory inhibition or facilitation by the combination of pain and anesthetic used. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to characterize the effects of a single, sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine in rs-fMRI in healthy subjects. Post-ketamine rs-fMRI data will demonstrate a pattern of increased global brain connectivity (GBC) in fronto-temporal cortex. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to investigate the neuroanatomical effects of ketamine treatment on patients with treatment-resistant depression. The investigators will compare the neuroimaging of patients several days before and after injection in order to assess the more durable changes induced by ketamine. In addition, changes in perfusion will be analyzed, in addition to changes in neurovascular coupling, and functional connectivity that are correlated with psychiatric measures. 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