Trial reportThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2023
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Midazolam-Controlled Trial of Low-Dose Ketamine Infusion in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression and Prominent Suicidal Ideation.
Trial report in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Efficacy of racemic ketamine or esketamine monotherapy for reducing suicidal ideation in uni- or bipolar depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical trials since 2020 of rapid anti-suicidal ideation effects of ketamine and its enantiomers: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative safety and tolerability of ketamine and esketamine for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Autism, youth suicide, and psychedelics: A review of the 21st century evidence.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2024Pooled it
- A preliminary proof-of-concept trial on the effects of ketamine on fatigue: a randomized crossover trial.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2026Trial
- Thalamocortical functional connectivity and rapid antidepressant and antisuicidal effects of low-dose ketamine infusion among patients with treatment-resistant depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- A randomized controlled pilot study of daily intravenous ketamine over three days for treatment-resistant depression.BMC psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Distinct effects of current suicidal symptoms and lifetime suicide attempts on C-reactive protein levels and executive function in young people with major affective disorders.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Shorter to be effective: subanesthetic-dose ketamine infusion reduces the global and regional path length of brain functional connectivity in patients with treatment-resistant depression and suicidal ideation.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Effect of ketamine intervention on hemodynamic responses in patients with treatment-resistant depression.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Distinct therapeutic profiles of ketamine in treatment-resistant depression: an exploratory analysis.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Rapid-acting NMDA and GABAergic Modulators in Mood Disorders: From Synaptic Mechanisms to Clinical Practice.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Sustained mood improvement with laughing gas exposure (SMILE): a randomised, placebo-controlled pilot trial of nitrous oxide for treatment-resistant depression.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Anti-Suicidal Effects of Lithium, Ketamine, and Clozapine-A 10-Year Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- New Agents in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: What Innovations and in What Areas of Psychopathology?Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Abuse liability for esketamine in a cohort of patients undergoing an acute treatment course to manage treatment-resistant depression: a secondary analysis of an observational study in real-world clinical practicee.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2025Article
- Psychiatric and legal considerations for ketamine treatment within prison settings.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Hype or hope? Ketamine for the treatment of depression: results from the application of deep learning to Twitter posts from 2010 to 2023.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe benefits of low-dose ketamine for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and prominent suicidal ideation require further investigation. The effects of treatment refractoriness, the duration of the current depressive episode, and the number of prior antidepressant failures on ketamine efficacy also require clarification.
methodsWe recruited 84 outpatients with TRD and prominent suicidal ideation-defined as a score ≥4 on item 10 of the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)-and randomized them into 2 groups to receive 0.5 mg/kg ketamine or 0.045 mg/kg midazolam. We assessed depressive and suicidal symptoms prior to infusion; 240 minutes post infusion; and 2, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days post infusion.
resultsAccording to the MADRS scores, the antidepressant effect (P = .035) was significantly noted in the ketamine group up to 14 days than in the midazolam group. However, the antisuicidal effect of ketamine, as measured by the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale Ideation Severity Subscale (P = .040) and MADRS item 10 (P = .023), persisted only 5 days post infusion. Furthermore, the antidepressant and antisuicidal effects of ketamine infusion were noted particularly in patients whose current depressive episode lasted <24 months or whose number of failed antidepressants was ≤4.
conclusionsLow-dose ketamine infusion is a safe, tolerable, and effective treatment for patients with TRD and prominent suicidal ideation. Our study highlights the importance of timing; specifically, ketamine is more likely to achieve therapeutic response when the current depressive episode lasted <24 months and the number of failed antidepressants is ≤4.
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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.