Brain iron-sensitive markers (magnetic susceptibility and R2*) predict antidepressant response to ketamine in treatment-resistant depression.
Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging August 1, 2026 Kengo Yonezawa, Shinichiro Nakajima, Shuhei Shibukawa et al.
In patients with treatment-resistant depression, higher baseline levels of magnetic substances in the right nucleus accumbens and the left amygdala, measured by brain imaging, predicted a greater reduction in specific depressive symptoms after repeated ketamine infusions. The study included 17 Japanese patients and used a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled design followed by an open-label phase. Baseline magnetic susceptibility in the right nucleus accumbens correlated with improvement in retardation symptoms, while baseline R2* in the left amygdala correlated with improvement in vegetative symptoms. These brain markers may help predict which patients will benefit from ketamine treatment.