RT Journal
A1 Krystal JH
T1 N- methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor antagonists and the promise of rapid-acting antidepressants
JF Archives of General Psychiatry
JO Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 2010
FD November 1
VO 67
IS 11
SP 1110
OP 1111
DO 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.138
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.138
AB 
Their article describes robust, clinically relevant, and rapid alleviation of depression symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder that persists far beyond the presence of the drug in the body. Ketamine has a terminal half-life of approximately 3 hours. Yet after 2 days, or 16 half-lives, of ketamine, the effect size of its antidepressant effects was large (0.8). Impressively, at 2 weeks there were still traces of the antidepressant effects of single ketamine dose, associated with an effect size of 0.22. Further, 6 of 17 patients had a clinical response to ketamine within 40 minutes of infusion and 9 of 16 patients experienced a remission of their depression during the study. The magnitude of these ketamine effects was particularly impressive because the changes were observed in patients who had treatment-resistant symptoms and who were already receiving mood-stabilizing medications. These data suggest that the benefits of ketamine in patients with bipolar disorder mirror those reported earlier for patients with unipolar depression.2- 4