Posted by SLS on July 4, 2013, at 10:29:55
In reply to Re: ECT In Kids, Safe,Effective But Under utilizied » SLS, posted by europerep on July 4, 2013, at 6:55:52
> I think that the question of getting the right dose of ketamine is mostly, if not entirely, related to the psychedelic effects it produces at high(er) doses. After all, the pretty much universally used dosage of 0.5mg/kg, administered over 40 min. via IV infusion, has, at least as far as I know, not been "developed" or elaborated in any kind of way. It's just the dosage the first guys who studied ketamine in TRD came up with, and they sticked with it because it worked. It would be quite a coincidence if they had just accidentally found a "narrow therapeutic window."
You may be right. Perhaps I am mistaken in my recollection. Nevertheless, NMDA receptor partial agonism seems to be a more desirable mode of modulating glutamatergic neural activity than ketamine is. The risk of triggering psychosis is much reduced and oral agents now exist. The therapeutic indexes (safety / toxicity) of these drugs is quite a bit wider than that of ketamine.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1046274
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130617/msgs/1046424.html