Effects of Ketamine in the Acute Phase of Suicidal Ideation

Before perfusions begin, each patient will have a baseline evaluation including the following: the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (CSSRS), the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI), a physical pain VAS (visual analog scale), a mental pain VAS, the Clinical Global Impressions Scale (CGI-S), Beck's Hopeless scale (BHS), the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology for the Clinician (IDS-C30), the Patient Rated Inventory of Side Effects (PRISE), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).

A 1st perfusion of ketamine is performed: 0.5 mg/kg diluted in saline, administered over 40 minutes by intravenous (IV) pump and cardiorespiratory monitoring. (Day 0)

A 1st perfusion of saline is performed: the same volume of saline as in the ketamine arm, administered over 40 minutes by IV pump and cardiorespiratory monitoring. (Day 0)

Patients will be re-evaluated with a selection of questionnaires at 40 minutes, 120 minutes, 4 hours, and 24 hours after the end of the first perfusion, and then again at 48 hours after the end of the first perfusion and right before the second perfusion and then again Day 3, Day 4, Week 2, Week 4 and Week 6.

A 2nd perfusion of ketamine is performed: 0.5 mg/kg diluted in saline, administered over 40 minutes by intravenous (IV) pump and cardiorespiratory monitoring. (Day 2)

A 2nd perfusion of saline is performed: the same volume of saline as in the ketamine arm, administered over 40 minutes by IV pump and cardiorespiratory monitoring. (Day 2)