Skip to content
CompletedPhase 4Results posted

Ketamine for Older Adults Pilot

NCT04504175 · Washington University School of Medicine

Closed to entry
Status
Not accepting participants
Phase 4
Phase
25
Target enrolment
5
Study sites
4 US states

What it is testing

Summary

This pilot study will assess the safety and feasibility of intravenous (IV) ketamine in older adults with Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD). In addition, this study will develop and utilize innovative methodological approaches to demonstrate the feasibility of precision medicine and mobile health approaches in depression treatment.

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

  • Remission From Depression

    Measured over 4 weeks for acute phase, 8 weeks for continuation phase

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

65 Years
Ages
All
Sex
Not accepted
Healthy volunteers
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Community-living men and women age 65 years and older; 2. Treatment-resistant depression: defined as unipolar major depressive disorder, non-delusional (diagnosed by SCID-5) that persists despite ≥ 2 adequate antidepressant trials of different classes in the current episode; including at least one evidence-based second-line treatment in the current episode (including serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, bupropion, tricyclics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or augmentation with an atypical antipsychotic, stimulant, bupropion, lithium, or triiodothyronine 3. Persistent moderate to severe depressive symptoms determined by Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9)26 score ≥15 at baseline 4. Able to provide informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Dementia per history, score \< 24 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), or determined by clinical interview with geriatric psychiatrist to have high likelihood of dementia; 2. Psychotic spectrum or bipolar disorder or severe personality disorder that at the PIs discretion would interfere with safe participation. Anxiety disorders are not an exclusion. 3. Unstable medical conditions such that IV ketamine is not safe or tolerated or that would interfere with participation in a long-term study (i.e., poorly controlled hypertension, life expectancy \< 1 year because of terminal illness, unstable angina). 4. Baseline systolic BP \> 165 systolic or 100 diastolic at evaluation. 5. Current alcohol or substance use disorder or lifetime recreational ketamine use or other dissociative agent (e.g., PCP). 6. Use of naltrexone, memantine, or any medication that could be considered contraindicated with ketamine. 7. Taking more than 2 adequately-dosed oral antidepressants. 8. High acute risk for suicide and unable to be managed safely in the clinical trial.

Where

5 study sites

FacilityCityRegionCountry
UCLA Late-Life Mood, Stress, and Wellness Research ProgramLos AngelesCaliforniaUnited States
Washington University School of Medicine Healthy Mind LabSt LouisMissouriUnited States
Columbia University Adult and Late Life Depression ClinicNew YorkNew YorkUnited States
UPMC Late-Life Depression, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment ProgramPittsburghPennsylvaniaUnited States
University Health NetworkTorontoOntarioCanada

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.

NCT04504175 on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Last updated in the registry 2023-02-14. Registry records change; this page reflects the data build of 2026-08-25.

Related

Where this trial sits