Ketamine plus propofol-electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) transiently improves the antidepressant effects and the associated brain functional alterations in patients with propofol-ECT-resistant depression.
Psychiatry Research March 6, 2020 Jianjing Zhang, H. Tian, Jie Li et al. 13 citations
Adding ketamine to propofol-electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) improves outcomes for patients with depression resistant to ECT alone. In 28 patients, six alternating sessions of ketamine and propofol-ECT over two weeks increased global functional connectivity density in the left temporal and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and decreased functional connectivity strength within the default mode network. Although the functional brain changes lasted 10 days, the clinical benefit—measured by the Hamilton Depression Scale—lasted only 7 days, indicating a disconnect between brain alterations and symptom relief. The combination offers a short-term improvement, but its effect is limited to one week.