Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31772157›Full record

Trial reportNature communications2019

Ketamine can reduce harmful drinking by pharmacologically rewriting drinking memories.

Ravi K Das, Grace Gale, Katie Walsh, Vanessa E Hennessy, Georges Iskandar, Luke A Mordecai, Brigitta Brandner, Merel Kindt, H Valerie Curran, Sunjeev K Kamboj

Erratum issued Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT06620276 (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder and Comorbid Treatment-Resistant Depression Who Are Undergoing Ketamine Intervention), which is not on this map. Cited by 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.1field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT06620276 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder and Comorbid Treatment-Resistant Depression Who Are Undergoing Ketamine Intervention: A Feasibility Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorCentre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)Ran2025 to 2028Enrolled30ConditionsDepression - Major Depressive Disorder, Alcohol Use DisorderArmsAcceptance and Commitment Therapy, Ketamine
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 121 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
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  5. Long term structural and functional neural changes following a single infusion of Ketamine in PTSD.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023
    Trial
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  7. Trial
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
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  17. Arketamine: a scoping review of its use in humans.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Review
  20. Examining memory reconsolidation as a mechanism of nitrous oxide's antidepressant action.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Ravi K DasClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK. ravi.das@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0104-1544
Grace GaleClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
Katie WalshClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
Vanessa E HennessyClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
Georges IskandarUniversity College Hospital and University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3242-3481
Luke A MordecaiPain Management Centre, University College Hospital, London, UK.
Brigitta BrandnerPain Management Centre, University College Hospital, London, UK.
Merel KindtExperimental Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
H Valerie CurranClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
Sunjeev K KambojClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
University College London · GBUniversity College Hospital · GBThe London College · GBUniversity College Hospital at Westmoreland Street · GBUniversity of Amsterdam · NL

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/M007006/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maladaptive reward memories (MRMs) are involved in the development and maintenance of acquired overconsumption disorders, such as harmful alcohol and drug use. The process of memory reconsolidation - where stored memories become briefly labile upon retrieval - may offer a means to disrupt MRMs and prevent relapse. However, reliable means for pharmacologically weakening MRMs in humans remain elusive. Here we demonstrate that the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist ketamine is able to disrupt MRMs in hazardous drinkers when administered immediately after their retrieval. MRM retrieval + ketamine (RET + KET) effectively reduced the reinforcing effects of alcohol and long-term drinking levels, compared to ketamine or retrieval alone. Blood concentrations of ketamine and its metabolites during the critical 'reconsolidation window' predicted beneficial changes only following MRM reactivation. Pharmacological reconsolidation interference may provide a means to rapidly rewrite maladaptive memory and should be further pursued in alcohol and drug use disorders.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PsychologicalAdultAlcohol DrinkingBiomarkersFemaleHumansKetamineMaleMemoryReinforcement, PsychologyTreatment OutcomeBiomarkersKetaminenorketamine

Identifiers

PMID31772157
PMCPMC6879579
OpenAlexW2990763002

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.