A recent study has found that ketamine, an anesthetic, could be a promising alternative to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for patients with hard-to-treat depression. ECT is a quick and effective therapy, but it has long been tainted by historical misuse and images from Hollywood. Furthermore, ECT can cause temporary memory loss, muscle pain, weakness, and rarely, permanent gaps in memory. Ketamine, when administered intravenously, was found to be at least as effective as ECT, without any noticeable memory problems. The study, which was sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, randomly assigned intravenous ketamine or ECT to 365 patients, and by the end of the three-week treatment, 55% of those in the ketamine group reported a 50% or greater reduction in symptoms while 41% of the patients in the ECT group reported similar results. Six months later, the quality-of-life scores for both groups were also found to be similar. Dr. Amit Anand, lead author of the study and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, believes there is compelling data showing that intravenous ketamine is at least as effective or more so than esketamine, which is used for the treatment of mood disorders, and is wider in use among clinicians because it is a generic medicine. Dr. Anand and his colleagues are planning a larger study comparing ECT to intravenous ketamine in 1,500 acutely suicidal and depressed patients, most of whom are likely to be inpatients.
