Ketamine for Preventing Depression in Patients Undergoing Treatment for Pancreatic or Head and Neck Cancers
Status:
Withdrawn
Trial end date:
2017-11-03
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The primary purpose of this study is to see if it is safe to give patients with pancreatic or
head and neck cancer a low dose of the FDA approved anesthetic drug ketamine at the same time
they receive radiation and/or chemotherapy for their cancer treatment to prevent depression
and its effects. Researchers would also like to see if giving ketamine at the same time as
cancer treatment is practical and reasonably acceptable to the patient.
New onset depression is highly frequent in those with head and neck cancer, and depression
has many negative consequences for outcomes in those patients. Depression has been known to
have greater incidence in pancreatic cancer patients than in patients with other
malignancies.
Therefore, investigators would also like to see if giving patients ketamine during their
routine cancer treatment will prevent the onset of depression and its negative effects on
cancer treatment outcomes, and also help with anxiety, pain, and quality of life. The study
will also use a placebo to compare to the good and/or bad effects of ketamine. A placebo is
not an active drug and it will be look the same as ketamine, as a liquid to be taken by
mouth.
Ketamine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a general anesthetic
by itself for some diagnostic and surgical procedures or combined with other general
anesthetic agents. It has also been shown to reduce cancer pain. Ketamine is considered
experimental in this study because it is not approved by the FDA for the prevention of
depression.