The Use of Ketamine as an Anaesthetic During Electroconvulsive Therapy

Phase 4 Completed 40 enrolled University of Aberdeen Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government · collab NHS Grampian · collab

RandomizedParallel-groupTriple-blindTreatment

Summary

The main aim of this research is to ascertain whether Ketamine would be a more effective anaesthetic for Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) than the standard anaesthetic. In doing so the investigators aim to examine the effect of ketamine on ratings of depressive symptoms, the number of required ECT treatments, and the effect of this anaesthetic on memory.

Timeline

Start: 2011-03
Primary completion: 2014-02
Completion: 2014-02

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper No significant differences were found on any outcome measure during, at the end of or 1 month following the ECT course. PMID 28254962 ↗

paper Ketamine as an anaesthetic does not enhance the efficacy of ECT. PMID 28254962 ↗

Publications

Fernie G, Currie J, Perrin JS, Stewart CA, Anderson V, Bennett DM, Hay S, Reid IC. Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy: the KANECT randomised controlled trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2017 Jun;210(6):422-428. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.116.189134. Epub 2017 Mar 2.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Ketamine	Small molecule	2 mg/kg	Intravenous
Comparator	Propofol	Small molecule	2.5 mg/kg	Intravenous