Intranasal Ketamine for Late-Life Depression and Suicidal Ideation

March 1, 2017 updated by: Dawn F Ionescu, Massachusetts General Hospital
The investigators of this study plan to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of repeated doses of intranasal ketamine in severely depressed patients who are at least 65 years of age and experiencing suicidal ideation. The results of the study could lead to development of new strategies for treating depression.

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 4

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1) be ≥65 years old, 2) provide written informed consent, 3) meet criteria for a primary psychiatric diagnosis of major depressive disorder according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and have a HDRS28 total score ≥20; depression may have started at any time point in their life, and certain co-morbid diagnoses (e.g., anxiety disorders) will be allowed insofar as they are not the primary psychiatric diagnosis, 4) have a history of ≥2 failed medication trials during the current episode (per the Massachusetts General Hospital Antidepressant Treatment History Questionnaire; MGH ATRQ), 5) endorse suicidal ideation for more than 2 months, per the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) and have a HDRS28 suicide item score ≥1 (thoughts that life isn't worth living), 6) be on a stable antidepressant regimen for ≥14 days prior to Study Phase II, 7) maintain a treating psychiatrist who is in agreement with study participation, and 8) have a reliable chaperone accompany them home following the completion of the intranasal administration.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients will be excluded if any of the following criteria are met: 1) Delirium or dementia diagnosis, 2) unstable medical illness, 3) history of clinically significant cardiovascular disease or electrocardiogram (EKG) findings, or medical conditions that put the patient at risk for possible cardiac side effects, 4) history of multiple adverse drug reactions, 5) current/past history of psychotic disorders or homicidality, 6) active substance use disorders (except nicotine and caffeine) within the past six months, positive urine toxicology screen, or past history of ketamine abuse, 7) requirement of excluded medications (narcotics, barbiturates, theophylline, or St. John's Wort), or 8) concurrent or recent participation in other research studies.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ketamine
Intranasal Ketamine 50mg administered six times over three weeks.
Drug: Ketamine
Intranasal ketamine for late-life depression and suicidal ideation.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Intranasal saline solution administered six times over three weeks.
Drug: Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)
Time Frame: Up to 4 months
Up to 4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Dawn F Ionescu, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 18, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 18, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

November 20, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 3, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 1, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2014D006212

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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