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CompletedPhase 4

Ketamine as an Anaesthetic Agent in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

NCT00680433 · Northside Clinic, Australia

Closed to entry
Status
Not accepting participants
Phase 4
Phase
83
Target enrolment
1
Study sites
Outside the US

What it is testing

Summary

Research into the mechanisms underlying memory impairment in ECT suggests that its development may be prevented by the administration of certain medications at the time of ECT treatment. For example there are reasons to believe that ketamine, also used as an anaesthetic agent, may have such protective properties. In this clinical study patients undergoing a course of ECT will be offered the opportunity to receive a small dose of ketamine (or a placebo) as part of their anaesthetic at the time of ECT treatment. Mood changes and any memory changes will be evaluated to see if the subjects who received ketamine had less memory side effects than those who did not, while still improving their depression.

Summary as written by the trial’s own sponsor and published on ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. It is the sponsor’s description, reproduced unedited, not an assessment by this site.

What counts as success

Primary outcome measures

  • Memory tests

    Measured over Before ECT, after 6 ECT treatments, at the end of the ECT course

A trial succeeds or fails on its primary outcome, declared in advance. Everything else it reports is secondary by definition.

Who can take part

Eligibility, as published

18 Years
Ages
All
Sex
Not accepted
Healthy volunteers
Inclusion Criteria: * Satisfy DSM-IV-TR criteria for Major Depressive Episode * 18 years or over * Does not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, rapid cycling bipolar disorder, or current psychotic symptoms * No known sensitivity to ketamine * No ECT in the last 3 months * No drug or alcohol abuse in the last 12 months * Able to give informed consent * Score at least 24 on Mini Mental State Examination

Where

1 study site

FacilityCityRegionCountry
Wesley HospitalSydneyNew South WalesAustralia

On the registry

Contact the trial directly

This site does not enrol anyone and is not involved in this trial. To ask about taking part, use the sponsor’s own contact details on the official registry record, which is also where the most current version of everything above lives.

Before you do, the preparation checklist lists what a site will ask you on a first call and what is worth asking them. It is free and collects nothing.

NCT00680433 on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Last updated in the registry 2013-03-29. Registry records change; this page reflects the data build of 2026-08-25.

Related

Where this trial sits

Substance