Another possibility in treatment failures is to consider repeated sessions of ketamine, such as at once-daily frequency, as is done in a course of electroconvulsive therapy. Strategies to maintain treatment response need to be identified for those who respond to the treatment; maintenance antidepressant pharmacotherapy or maintenance ketamine sessions are possibilities that spring to mind.
A good book for a better understanding of Ketamine is: Ketamine: Dreams and Realities
Because of its hallucinogenic side effects, ketamine is unlikely to become a widely used antidepressant. But now researchers think they have discovered how ketamine exerts its fast-acting effect. Several pharmaceutical companies are already developing compounds that target this mechanism, one of which will be tested at the NIMH within the next few months.
Ketamine is a chiral drug with R and S enantiomers. S-ketamine has greater affinity for the phencyclidine binding site on the NMDA receptor; S-ketamine is also three times more potent an anesthetic and two times more potent an analgesic than R-ketamine.
A good book for a better understanding of Ketamine is: Ketamine: Dreams and Realities
Because of its hallucinogenic side effects, ketamine is unlikely to become a widely used antidepressant. But now researchers think they have discovered how ketamine exerts its fast-acting effect. Several pharmaceutical companies are already developing compounds that target this mechanism, one of which will be tested at the NIMH within the next few months.
Ketamine is a chiral drug with R and S enantiomers. S-ketamine has greater affinity for the phencyclidine binding site on the NMDA receptor; S-ketamine is also three times more potent an anesthetic and two times more potent an analgesic than R-ketamine.
