BMC Psychiatry
January 2, 2024
Minna Chang, Mario F Juruena, Allan H Young
16 citations
Ketamine, a promising antidepressant for treatment-resistant depression, can cause ulcerative cystitis—a bladder condition with lower urinary tract symptoms and potential kidney damage seen in over 25% of regular recreational users. This condition, known as ketamine-induced cystitis (KIC), had not been reported in therapeutic use until now. A 28-year-old woman developed KIC symptoms after starting ketamine for depression, confirmed by urine tests. Early diagnosis and stopping ketamine can improve symptoms and prevent further harm. This is the first reported case of KIC in a patient receiving treatment-dose ketamine for depression.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
April 16, 2026
Minna Chang, Allan H Young, Mario F Juruena
Both electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and ketamine show sustained therapeutic potential for treatment-resistant depression, with ECT possibly associated with longer remission. Higher doses, more frequent administration, and maintenance ECT or ketamine appear to prolong remission, and continuing oral antidepressants may extend it further. This systematic review of 13 studies found no direct head-to-head comparisons of time-to-relapse between the two treatments that met inclusion criteria, preventing formal statistical analysis. The review excluded studies involving psychotic depression, limiting generalizability to those populations.
BJPsych Open
June 1, 2025
Minna Chang, Allan Young, Mario Juruena
A 28-year-old woman receiving ketamine for depression developed ulcerative cystitis, a complication previously seen only in recreational users. Ketamine-induced cystitis (KIC) causes lower urinary tract symptoms—dysuria, urgency, nocturia, frequency—and can progress to incontinence, hematuria, bladder fibrosis, and kidney damage. The exact cause is unknown, but theories include direct toxicity from ketamine metabolites, an IgE-mediated allergic response, and other inflammatory pathways. Early diagnosis and stopping ketamine can reverse symptoms and prevent further harm. This is the first reported case of KIC from therapeutic-dose ketamine for depression.
Research Square
Minna Chang
Ketamine can cause ulcerative cystitis, a bladder condition with lower urinary tract symptoms and kidney damage, in over 25% of regular recreational users. This complication had not been reported in therapeutic use for depression until now. A 28-year-old woman started on ketamine for depression developed cystitis, confirmed by urine tests. This is the first reported case of ketamine-induced cystitis from treatment-dose ketamine for antidepressant therapy.
Minna Chang
A 28-year-old woman with treatment-resistant depression developed painful urination (dysuria) after starting ketamine therapy. Urine tests showed sterile pyuria (white blood cells without infection). Her symptoms resolved within three weeks of stopping ketamine, but her depression worsened. This is the first reported case of ketamine-induced cystitis from therapeutic-dose ketamine for depression, a known complication in recreational users. The authors recommend monitoring all ketamine patients for lower urinary tract symptoms and call for research on safe dosing and individual risk factors.