Research from the Florida State University (FSU) is helping medical professionals gain a better understanding of ketamine and the chemical’s benefit potential beyond its traditional use as an anesthetic.
A team from FSU has undertaken a study, the results of which could indicate that ketamine may be useful as a treatment for people suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD). AUD is also known as alcoholism and is divided into two types, namely alcohol abuse (unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviour) and alcohol dependence (physical or psychological dependence upon alcohol).
Could Ketamine Infusion Therapy Become an Effective Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder?
This is exciting news, as current treatments for AUD are largely ineffective. Most people undergoing standard AUD treatments relapse less than a year after their treatment has been completed.
In this FSU study, a group of male rats were given alcohol until they became dependent upon it. Half of the rats were then given a series of ketamine infusion treatments, and then the other half were given a saline solution. The researchers then monitored the rats for their on-going requirement for alcohol.
The results showed that the rats that underwent the ketamine treatment voluntarily reduced their alcohol intake, while the alcohol intake of those rats that received the saline solution remained unchanged.
What’s more, these findings remained the same for a period of at least three weeks after the treatments had concluded. This suggests that ketamine could become a successful long-term solution for the problems associated with AUD.
The Study of Ketamine Infusion Therapy and AUD Yielded Some Unexpected Results
One thing of note though – the results were only positive with male rats. The ketamine had no effect on female rats, and indeed with female rats that drank low levels of alcohol the ketamine infusion treatments actually increased the amount of alcohol the female rats voluntarily drank.
While it seems that ketamine could potentially become a breakthrough treatment for males suffering from AUD, studies using human volunteers will be required. FSU is likely to conduct such studies in the near future using both male and female volunteers.
If you would like to learn more about Ketamine Infusion Therapy and how it may be able to help you, please contact us here at the Ketamine Institute of Michigan. You can contact us at (855) KETAMINE (855-538-2646) or use our online contact form available on our website.