KETAMINE is a medicine developed more than 50 years ago for anesthesia during surgery, and has been used for that purpose since that time in children, adults, and animals. More recently, KETAMINE has been found to be a valuable and highly effective treatment for major depression, bipolar depression, postpartum depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and certain pain disorders such as fibromyalgia. Unlike
most commonly prescribed oral anti-depressant medications that take weeks to months before the patient and practitioner can even decide if the treatment is working, KETAMINE infusions have a greater than 70% success rate with improvement noted in hours to days. In fact, most patients will know after their 1st infusion whether or not they respond (70% of patients will respond and have benefit), and these are patients that have usually failed 2 or more trials of medications and/or ECT. In addition, the side effect profiles for commonly prescribed oral anti-depressant medications are extensive and sometimes life threatening. Far and away the most common experience with KETAMINE infusions (at KETAMINE TREATMENT CENTERS) is to have NO SIDE EFFECTS in between treatments. KETAMINE TREATMENT CENTERS offers infusions as a simple outpatient procedure. Following a consultation to determine the appropriateness and safety of this treatment, patients are guided each step of the way with the help of a clinical coordinator to ensure a smooth, supportive process. Because the effects of a single infusion are short-lived, patients who show response (70%) will receive a series of infusions over a 2-3 week period. This is an off-label use of KETAMINE, meaning that the FDA has not approved this medication for this use. However, its safety and effectiveness have been demonstrated in multiple research studies, and off-label prescribing is a common and necessary practice in all fields of medicine. KETAMINE TREATMENT CENTERS was founded in 2011 by Dr. Steven P. Though he is a psychiatrist who places great emphasis on the importance of psychotherapy, medication is often a necessary component of treatment, and he was dissatisfied with the relatively ineffective available options with burdensome side effects. Dr. Levine pioneered a protocol for the clinical use of KETAMINE infusions, has directly supervised many thousands of infusions, and has helped establish similar programs across the country and around the world. Dr. Levine has partnered with Dr. Anand Dugar, a board-certified anesthesiologist, combining the expertise of both psychiatry and anesthesia to provide unrivaled, world-class care for the treatment of major depression, bipolar depression, postpartum depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fibromyalgia, and pain syndromes. Today, we are proud to have a growing network of KETAMINE TREATMENT CENTERS around the country bringing this important treatment closer to home for millions more.
