Intramuscular ketamine in acute depression: a case report

ABSTRACT

In the pharmacological management of depression, antidepressant drugs take about two weeks for the onsetof their therapeutic action while electroconvulsive therapy though faster, is a cumbersome procedure requiringan anesthetist and many gadgets. Recent studies have shown that ketamine when given to severely depressedpatients in the dose of 0.5mg/ kg body weight as a slow intravenous infusion over 40 minutes brought aboutrapid and significant relief within a few hours to within a day. It was however a transitor y improvement whichlasted for up to a week. As the dose of ketamine administered was very small, it was now tried in theintramuscular route with similar rapid improvement of depressive symptoms in a 25 year old man. His case isreported here as it promises to be an easy tool for providing quick relief to severely depressed patients.