Trial reportJournal of affective disorders2018
Ketamine augmentation for major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation: Preliminary experience in an inpatient psychiatry setting.
Trial report in Journal of affective disorders, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Ketamine Versus Midazolam for Suicidality: A GRADE-Assessed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Brain and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Ketamine treatment alleviates suicide ideation in high-risk populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of ketamine for major depressive episodes at 2, 4, and 6-weeks post-treatment: A meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Single and repeated ketamine infusions for reduction of suicidal ideation in treatment-resistant depression.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Esketamine/Ketamine: Dual-Action Mechanisms and Clinical Prospects beyond Anesthesia in Psychiatry, Immunology, and Oncology.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Ketamine enantiomers and the gut microbiota: mechanisms, clinical implications, and future directions.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- Anti-Suicidal Effects of Lithium, Ketamine, and Clozapine-A 10-Year Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Ketamine for the treatment of major depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Acute Effects of Intravenous Sub-Anesthetic Doses of Ketamine and Intranasal Inhaled Esketamine on Suicidal Ideation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2023Review
- Effects of somatic treatments on suicidal ideation and completed suicides.Brain and behavior · 2021Review
- Nitrous oxide as a putative novel dual-mechanism treatment for bipolar depression: Proof-of-concept study design and methodology.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2020Article
- Association between plasma levels of BDNF and the antisuicidal effects of repeated ketamine infusions in depression with suicidal ideation.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Bridging the mental-physical divide in health care.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2019Article
- Retrospective data analysis to determine the effectiveness of intravenous ketamine therapy on patients suffering from depression with suicidal ideation.Industrial psychiatry journalArticle
- (Es)Ketamine for Suicidal Ideation and Behavior: Clinical Efficacy.Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundKetamine is known to rapidly reduce depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation (SI) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), but evidence is limited for its acceptability and effectiveness in "real-world" settings. This case series examines serial ketamine infusions in reducing SI and depression scores in adults with MDD admitted to a tertiary care hospital.
methodsFive inpatients with MDD and SI admitted to hospital in Toronto, Canada received six infusions of 0.5 mg/kg intravenous (IV) ketamine (n = 5) over approximately 12 days, in addition to treatment-as-usual. Suicide and depression rating scores (Scale for Suicidal Ideation, SSI; Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, MADRS) were obtained at baseline, on treatment days, on days 14 and 42 (primary endpoint).
resultsAll patients experienced benefit with ketamine. SSI scores diminished by 84% from 14.0 ± 4.5 at baseline to 2.2 ± 2.5 at study endpoint. MADRS scores diminished by 47% from 42.2 ± 5.3 at baseline to 22.4 ± 8.0. Two patients withdrew from the study, one to initiate electroconvulsive therapy and one due to an adverse event (dissociative effects) during the ketamine infusion. LIMITATIONS: The major limitation of this study is the small sample size. DISCUSSION: These preliminary pilot data are promising with a greater than two-fold reduction in SI following ketamine infusions. They demonstrate that six serial ketamine infusions may be safe and feasible. These findings support the need for large scale randomized controlled trials to confirm the efficacy of serial ketamine for treatment of SI in "real-world" settings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.