Trial reportBrain and behavior2021
Subanesthetic dose of ketamine for the antidepressant effects and the associated cognitive impairments of electroconvulsive therapy in elderly patients-A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical study.
Trial report in Brain and behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prognostic Factors and Incidence for Postictal Agitation After Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The journal of ECT · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of ketamine-assisted electroconvulsive therapy in major depressive episode: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions to diminish cognitive side effects of electroconvulsive therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of ketamine on cognition, anxiety, and social functioning in adults with psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Subanesthetic dose of ketamine for the antidepressant effects and the associated cognitive impairments of electroconvulsive therapy in elderly patients-A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical study.Brain and behavior · 2021Trial
- Esketamine/Ketamine: Dual-Action Mechanisms and Clinical Prospects beyond Anesthesia in Psychiatry, Immunology, and Oncology.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Effect of esketamine and etomidate anesthesia on neuroplasticity in electroconvulsive therapy for treatment-resistant depression.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Perspectives in treatment-resistant depression: esketamine and electroconvulsive therapy.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2025Review
- Effects of Binaural Beat Music and Esketamine for ECT in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- The evidence for ketamine treatment in older adults with psychiatric illness: a scoping review.Therapeutic advances in chronic disease · 2025Article
- Ketamine in neuropsychiatric disorders: an update.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Article
- Focal points of preanesthesia evaluations for electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depression: a retrospective analysis of clinical characteristics in nonremission.BMC anesthesiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe previously confirmed that low-dose ketamine, as an adjunctive anesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in adult patients with depression, accelerates the effects of ECT and reduces the ECT-induced learning and memory deficits. This study explored the efficacy and safety of low-dose ketamine in elderly patients with depression.
methodsElderly patients with depression (N = 157) were randomly divided into two groups: propofol anesthesia group (group P) and propofol combined with ketamine anesthesia group (group KP). Patients in group KP were given low-dose ketamine (0.3 mg/kg) for each ECT treatment; patients in group P were given the same amount of normal saline. Depressive symptoms and global cognitive functions were assessed using the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination, respectively, at baseline, 1 day after the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th ECT sessions, and 1 day after the end of the ECT course. ECT effects of and complications were recorded.
resultsIn total, 67 patients in group KP and 70 in group P completed the study. After the ECT, the response and remission rates were 82.09% and 73.13%, respectively, in group KP, and 81.43% and 68.57%, respectively, in group P; there was no statistical difference between groups. However, the incidence of cognitive function impairment was lower in group KP (10.4%) than in group P (25.7%), while different electrical dose and seizure duration were required during the course of treatment between the two groups. There was no difference in the complications of ECT between groups.
conclusionsLow-dose ketamine is safe as an adjunct anesthetic for elderly patients subjected to ECT. It has a protective effect on cognitive function and may accelerate the antidepressant effects of ECT.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.