Ketamine is comparable to ECT for patients with treatment-resistant depression, study shows
When seriously depressed patients don’t respond to antidepressants, the alternatives are limited. Now a new study has found that ketamine performs at least as well as the current gold standard for such patients, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), suggesting it deserves consideration as a frontline response for people with treatment-resistant depression.
But while the potential benefits are comparable and ketamine is easier to administer than ECT, the addiction risks of long-term ketamine treatments aren’t well established, leading some physicians to urge caution. “It’s a question of risk assessment for each individual patient,” said Boris Heifets, who studies ketamine at Stanford University and was not involved in the new research. “Neither of these things is risk-free, neither is transformative.”
