Ketamine is an FDA approved medication discovered in the 1960’s. In large doses it is used as a sedative and general anesthetic. Recent scientific research has demonstrated that in precise, smaller doses given by continuous infusion, it will provide short and long term relief from mood disorders such as Depression, PTSD, bipolar, Anxiety, OCD and various Chronic pain syndromes such as neuropathic pain, phantom limb pain and many others.
Ketamine has numerous mechanisms of action. It increases glutamate, norepinephrine and dopamine levels as well as other neurotransmitters. Ketamine has been proven to release Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which results in the growth of neurons and new synapses (connections) which was previously thought to be impossible. This is what is primarily responsible for the rapid powerful anti-depressant effects. Results are usually experienced in 2-4 hours.
Why should Ketamine be administered by an Anesthesia Professional?
Ketamine is an anesthetic medication. For maximum safety it should only be administered by a healthcare professional educated and experienced in delivering anesthesia. The FDA package insert and label information clearly states that it should only be administered by someone experienced in the delivery of anesthesia. Rocky Mountain Mind and Body offers Ketamine Infusion Therapy provided by Steve Gittelman, CRNA, MSNA — a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist with more than 35 years of experience in direct patient care.
Scientific Literature About Ketamine in Clinical Practice
The following are scientific research articles demonstrating the efficacy and usefulness of Ketamine Infusion Therapy with various afflictions.
General Information
Addiction
- A proof-of-concept investigation into ketamine as a pharmacological treatment for alcohol dependence: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
- Both ketamine and NBQX attenuate alcohol drinking in male Wistar rats.
- Ketamine for the treatment of addiction: Evidence and potential mechanisms.
- A proof-of-concept investigation into ketamine as a pharmacological treatment for alcohol dependence: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Anxiety
- Safety and efficacy of maintenance ketamine treatment in patients with treatment-refractory generalised anxiety and social anxiety disorders.
- Has psychiatry tamed the "ketamine tiger?" Considerations on its use for depression and anxiety.
Bipolar
- A randomized add-on trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist in treatment-resistant bipolar depression.
- Ketamine For Treatment-resistant Unipolar And Bipolar Major Depression: Critical Review And Implications For Clinical Practice.
- Single-dose infusion ketamine and non-ketamine N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists for unipolar and bipolar depression: a meta-analysis of efficacy, safety and time trajectories.
- Rapid infusion of esketamine for unipolar and bipolar depression: a retrospective chart review.
- Ketamine versus midazolam in bipolar depression with suicidal thoughts: A pilot midazolam-controlled randomized clinical trial.
- A single infusion of ketamine improves depression scores in patients with anxious bipolar depression.
- Replication of ketamine's antidepressant efficacy in bipolar depression: a randomized controlled add-on trial.
Chronic and Neuropathic Pain
- A Review of Current and Emerging Approaches to Pain Management in the Emergency Department.
- Reduction of central neuropathic pain with ketamine infusion in a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: a case report.
- Subanesthetic, Subcutaneous Ketamine Infusion Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Nonmalignant Pain.
- Continuous Dentoalveolar Neuropathic Pain Response to Repeated Intravenous Ketamine Infusions: A Case Report.
- The Effect of Ketamine Infusion in the Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: a Systemic Review and Meta-analysis.
- The analgesic effect of intravenous lidocaine in the treatment of chronic pain: a literature review
- Ketamine for chronic pain: risks and benefits.
- Effects of low-dose IV ketamine on peripheral and central pain from major limb injuries sustained in combat.
- Efficacy of outpatient ketamine infusions in refractory chronic pain syndromes: a 5-year retrospective analysis.
- Ketamine for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain.
- Analgesic effect of subanesthetic intravenous ketamine in refractory neuropathic pain: a case report.
- Ketamine produces effective and long-term pain relief in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1.
- Ketamine treatment for intractable pain in a patient with severe refractory complex regional pain syndrome: a case report.
Depression
- Ketamine Alleviates Depressive-Like Behaviors via Down-Regulating Inflammatory Cytokines Induced by Chronic Restraint Stress in Mice.
- NMDAR-independent, cAMP-dependent antidepressant actions of ketamine
- Ketamine, magnesium and major depression — from pharmacology to pathophysiology and back.
- Ketamine and rapid-acting antidepressants: a new era in the battle against depression and suicide.
- Features of dissociation differentially predict antidepressant response to ketamine in treatment-resistant depression.
- 7T 1H-MRS in major depressive disorder: a Ketamine Treatment Study.
- Default Mode Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder Measured Up to 10 Days After Ketamine Administration.
- Intravenous ketamine infusion for a patient with treatment-resistant major depression: a 10-month follow-up.
- A Case Report of A Patient with Treatment-Resistant Depression Successfully Treated with Repeated Intravenous Injections of A Low Dosage of Ketamine.
- Low-dose ketamine for treatment resistant depression in an academic clinical practice setting.
- Ketamine Alleviates Depressive-Like Behaviors via Down-Regulating Inflammatory Cytokines Induced by Chronic Restraint Stress in Mice.
- Breaking Sad: Unleashing the Breakthrough Potential of Ketamine's Rapid Antidepressant Effects.
- Potential involvement of serotonergic signaling in ketamine's antidepressant actions: A critical review.
- Intravenous Esketamine in Adult Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Double-Blind, Double-Randomization, Placebo-Controlled Study.
- Has psychiatry tamed the "ketamine tiger?" Considerations on its use for depression and anxiety.
- Ketamine safety and tolerability in clinical trials for treatment-resistant depression.
- Clinical predictors of ketamine response in treatment-resistant major depression.
- Serial infusions of low-dose ketamine for major depression.
Migraines
- Ketamine for Refractory Headache: A Retrospective Analysis.
- Glutamate and Its Receptors as Therapeutic Targets for Migraine.
- Effects of intravenous ketamine in a patient with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome.
- Intravenous ketamine for subacute treatment of refractory chronic migraine: a case series.
- Exploration of NMDA receptors in migraine: therapeutic and theoretic implications.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders — OCD
- Has psychiatry tamed the "ketamine tiger?" Considerations on its use for depression and anxiety.
- Glutamatergic agents for OCD and related disorders.
- Glutamate modulators in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- Randomized controlled crossover trial of ketamine in obsessive-compulsive disorder: proof-of-concept.
- Effects of ketamine in treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder — PTSD
- Efficacy, Safety, and Durability of Repeated Ketamine Infusions for Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Treatment-Resistant Depression.
- Applying ketamine to alleviate the PTSD-like effects by regulating the HCN1-related BDNF.
- Synaptic Loss and the Pathophysiology of PTSD: Implications for Ketamine as a Prototype Novel Therapeutic.
- Efficacy of intravenous ketamine for treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized clinical trial.
Suicidality
- A possible role for ketamine in suicide prevention in emergency and mainstream psychiatry
- Ketamine rapidly relieves acute suicidal ideation in cancer patients: a randomized controlled clinical trial.
- Ketamine for Rapid Reduction of Suicidal Thoughts in Major Depression: A Midazolam-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial.
- Use of ketamine for acute suicidal ideation in a patient with chronic pain on prescribed cannabinoids.
- Ketamine as a rapid-acting agent for suicidal ideation: A meta-analysis.
- A Double-Blinded, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Sub-Dissociative Dose Ketamine Pilot Study in the Treatment of Acute Depression and Suicidality in a Military Emergency Department Setting.
- Rapid and Sustained Reductions in Current Suicidal Ideation Following Repeated Doses of Intravenous Ketamine: Secondary Analysis of an Open-Label Study.