Prolonged ketamine infusion modulates limbic connectivity and induces sustained remission of treatment-resistant depression
Psychopharmacology January 22, 2021 J. Siegel, B. Palanca, B. Ances et al. 53 citations
A single 96-hour infusion of ketamine, co-administered with clonidine, is well tolerated and produces a rapid and sustained antidepressant response in over 50% of adults with treatment-resistant depression. In an open-label study of 23 adults, depressive symptoms dropped markedly from an average MADRS score of 29 at baseline to 9 one day after infusion, and remained reduced at 2 weeks (13) and 8 weeks (15). Brain imaging showed that the infusion normalized overconnectivity in the limbic system and between the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network, with response-dependent and treatment-dependent connectivity changes.