Esketamine, a key drug against treatment-resistant depression

esketaminenew intranasal drugmay be critical in the treatment of patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), according to a study that analyzed its effectiveness and possible changes in levels of neurofilaments, a marker of nerve damage, as well as the volume of different brain regions. It should be noted that more than two million people in our country suffer from depression.

The study was presented at the National Congress of Psychiatrists, which took place in Donostia-San Sebastian. Ana Rodriguez Lorentethe study’s principal investigator, who emphasizes that “these the results are promisingbut we need more data to confirm the long-term effects of esketamine.”

Early results from nine patients suggest changes in both neurofilaments and brain volume before treatment, which may serve as a biomarker predict evolution a disease for which almost 40% of Spaniards do not know how to seek help.

Esketamine is an enantiomer of ketamine. approved American agency Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of treatment-resistant depressive disorder in combination with other antidepressants.

The study was conducted by Ana Rodríguez Lorente, resident in psychiatry, Maria Pilar Campos Navarro, assistant psychiatrist, and Juan Antonio García-Carmona, assistant in neurology at the Santa Lucia Hospital in Cartagena, Murcia.

In this context, the specialist noted that treatment-resistant depression, known as turbojet engineis a type of depression in which patients do not improve with conventional treatment. Research has shown that this type of depression is associated with damage to nerve connections brain and changes in the size of certain areas of the brain. However, until now there has been no research into how new treatments such as esketamine affect inflammation or loss of brain tissue.

The purpose of this pioneering study was to evaluate how esketamine acts in patients with TRD and to analyze whether it causes changes in neurofilament levels (a substance that indicates nerve damage) and in key areas of the brain such as the hippocampus, cortical and subcortical regions, and major nerve pathways.

The study patients were is assessed regularly, at the beginning of the test and then once after one, three and six months. To learn about their development, various questionnaires were used that measured the severity of their health condition, their quality of life, their level of depression, the disability they perceived, their satisfaction with treatment, their risk of suicide, and their level of caregiver burnout. .

In addition to these clinical tests, an advanced MRI of the brain was performed to measure the volume of different brain regions and evaluate neural connections. Vol2Brain and ImageJ software were used to compare changes in brain volume before and after six months of esketamine treatment. They were also analyzed blood samples measure the level of neurofilaments, which made it possible to detect possible nerve damage.

In the initial phase, the study presented results from the first nine patients assessed before starting esketamine. These results showed that both neurofilament levels and brain volume were affected in patients with TRD, which “may be useful for predicting disease progression and improve diagnostics” Rodriguez said to Lorente.

Although the authors emphasize that these data are important,this is necessary more research to confirm how esketamine may affect these indicators in the long term,” the researcher concluded.