SynthesisRevista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)2023
Efficacy and safety of ketamine for the treatment of depressive symptoms in palliative care: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ketamine for Depression in Serious Illness: Evidence, Safety, and Practical Approaches.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2026Review
- Psychedelic-Assisted Interventions in Palliative Care: A Narrative Overview and Critical Evaluation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Unfolding States of Mind: A Dissociative-Psychedelic Model of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Palliative Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Gas necrosis and sepsis due to recreational ketamine use.Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo · 2025Article
- Midazolam Indications and Dosing in Palliative Medicine: Results from a Multinational Survey.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesKetamine has a fast onset of action that may offer a paradigm change for depression management at the end of life. We aimed to synthesize evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of ketamine in depression treatment within a broad palliative care concept.
methodsWe searched seven databases and included studies on the safety and efficacy of ketamine for depression treatment in patients diagnosed with any life-threatening disease. We also conducted a narrative review of the evidence.
resultsAmong 2,252 screened titles and abstracts, we included 32 studies in our final synthesis: 14 case reports, two case series, two quasi-experimental studies, and seven randomized clinical trials (RCTs), as well as data from three unpublished clinical trials and seven cases from four larger case series. Most case reports reported a robust effect; however, the larger studies reported conflicting findings. Five RCTs reported positive outcomes; however, four of them were focused on a perioperative setting. Two negative studies did not primarily focus on depression and did not apply severity cutoffs.
conclusionsAlthough ketamine is generally safe and potentially useful, its efficacy in palliative care settings remains unclear. It may be a reasonable alternative for perioperative depression in oncological patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.