Efficacy and safety of ketamine and esketamine for unipolar and bipolar depression: an overview of systematic reviews with meta-analysis
Frontiers in Psychiatry February 1, 2024 Alessandro Rodolico, Pierfelice Cutrufelli, A. di Francesco et al. 28 citations
Ketamine and its enantiomer esketamine show promise for quickly relieving suicidal thoughts in unipolar and bipolar depression, but the evidence is weak. An overview of 26 systematic reviews and 44 randomized controlled trials involving 3,316 subjects found the intervention effective and well-tolerated, but the quality of the included reviews and original studies is poor, resulting in low certainty of evidence. Insufficient data prevent differentiation between effects in unipolar versus bipolar depression. Enhanced methodological rigor in future research is needed to inform treatment guidelines.