Neural correlates of treatment response to ketamine for treatment-resistant depression: A systematic review of MRI-based studies.
Psychiatry research October 1, 2024 Je-Yeon Yun, Yong-Ku Kim 11 citations
A systematic review of 41 brain MRI studies involving 1,396 people with treatment-resistant depression and 587 healthy controls identified neural correlates of ketamine's antidepressant effects. Ketamine (0.5 mg/kg racemic or 0.25 mg/kg S-ketamine, infused intravenously over 40 minutes, given one to six times over two weeks) rapidly reduces depressive symptoms. Meaningful brain-based markers of treatment response were found in limbic, salience, fronto-parietal, default-mode, and subcortical networks. Features in limbic, salience, and fronto-parietal networks may help predict which patients with treatment-resistant depression will respond better to ketamine, particularly for relief of anhedonia, thought rumination, and suicidal ideation.