Ketamine to Treat Patients With Post-comatose Disorders of Consciousness

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators will run a Randomized Clinical Trial with 30 patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC), with intravenous subanesthetic doses of ketamine. Patients will simultaneously undergo TMS-EEG. The piloting will be done on 3 patients, with EEG only.

Clinical Trial Description

The protocol will be organized in three phases: baseline, experimental, and follow-up. In the baseline, patients will receive a multimodal assessment [functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalogram (EEG)]. The experimental phase is made of 2 sessions spaced 5 days apart: on day 1, patients will receive placebo (or ketamine), on day 5 patients will receive ketamine (or placebo). The order will be randomized and balanced. The investigators will use a targeted-controlled infusion (TCI) system to infuse a continuous subanesthetic dose of ketamine, which is known to have psychedelics effects, or a saline solution. The investigators will periodically assess for new signs of consciousness with the "simplified evaluation of consciousness disorders" (SECONDs) scale. The investigators will use transcranial magnetic stimulation coupled to EEG (TMS-EEG) to measure brain activity and calculate brain complexity. TMS-EEG will be performed from 20 minutes before the beginning of the infusion up to the max duration of the experiment (90 minutes). Another SECONDs will be performed on the following day of each session to control for carry-over effects. The primary outcomes are the emergence of new conscious behaviours and higher brain complexity following ketamine infusion. The secondary outcomes are baseline brain differences in neurophysiological and brain imaging measures between responders (new conscious behaviors or higher brain complexity) and non-responders (no new conscious behaviors or higher brain complexity). In the follow-up phase, patients' health will be evaluated at 1, 6, and 12 months. ;

Study Design

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

Clinical Trial Details

NCT number	NCT05343507
Study type	Interventional
Source	University of Liege
Contact	Paolo Cardone, MSc
Phone	0456309880
Email	p.cardone@uliege.be
Status	Recruiting
Phase	Phase 2/Phase 3
Start date	May 1, 2022
Completion date	May 1, 2026

View Details

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Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.

Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.