Research

Our Research

Some of the results of our research — particularly on ketamine infusion treatments:

Learn About Ongoing Research at Wells Medicine
2025 01 ASKP3 KEG Poster final

Gamma Oscillations as a Prognostic Marker for Ketamine Therapy in Treatment Resistant Depression. Poster presented at the ASKP3 2025 conference. Julia Engelhardt, Haley Cox, Krisha Shah, Brittany O’Brien, Charles Green, Jesse Wells, Allison Wells, Alan Swann, Sanjay Mathew, Nicholas Murphy

ADAA2024Poster

Anti-suicidal effects of IV ketamine in a real-world setting. Poster presented at the ADAA 2024 conference. O’Brien, B., Lee, J., Kim, S., Nandra, G. S., Swann, A. C., Murphy, N., Averilla, L., Jha, M., Wells, I., Wells, M., & Mathew, S. J.

ASCP2023Poster

Differential Trajectories of Depressive Symptom Response to IV Ketamine – Examining Sleep, Core
Emotional and Atypical Symptoms Changes in a Large, Real World Sample of Depressed Adults. Poster presented at the ASCP 2023 conference. Brittany O’Brien, Jaehoon Lee, Seungman Kim, Allison Wells, Lynnette Averill, Nicholas Murphy, Amanda Tamman, Alan C. Swann, Dania Amarneh, Sanjay J. Mathew

ADAA2021Poster

The impact of childhood maltreatment on depressed adults receiving IV ketamine: A replication study. Poster presented at the ADAA 2021 conference. Brittany O’Brien, Marijn Lijffijt, Nicholas Murphy, Nithya Ramakrishnan, Allison Wells, Ashna Karpe, Celine Nguyen, Jin Yan, Alan C. Swann, Sanjay J. Mathew

10 KJC

Distinct trajectories of antidepressant response to intravenous ketamine. Published in Journal of Affective Disorders, 2021. Brittany O’Brien, Marijn Lijffijt, Jaehoon Lee, Ye Sil Kim, Allison Wells, Nicholas Murphy, Nithya Ramakrishnan, Alan C. Swann, Sanjay J. Mathew. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.03.006

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The Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Intravenous Ketamine Outcomes for Adult Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression. Published in Pharmaceuticals, 2019. Brittany O’Brien, Marijn Lijffijt, Allison Wells, Alan C. Swann, Sanjay J. Mathew. DOI: 10.3390/ph12030133

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The effect of ketamine infusion treatment schedule on depression severity. Poster. O’Brien, B., Wells, A., Lijffijt, M., Davis, M., Wells, J., Swann, A. C., & Mathew, S. J. 

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Does childhood trauma impact outcomes in adults receiving ketamine for depression? Poster. O’Brien, B., Wells, A., Lijffijt, M., Davis, M., Wells, J., & Mathew, S. J.

Selected Research Resources

Ketamine


Tully JL, Dahlén AD, Haggarty CJ, Schiöth HB, Brooks S. Ketamine treatment for refractory anxiety: A systematic review. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2022; 88(10): 4412-4426. doi:10.1111/bcp.15374

Phillips JL, Norris S, Talbot J, et al. Single, Repeated, and Maintenance Ketamine Infusions for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Focus. 2020;18(2):236-243. doi:10.1176/appi.focus.18206

Anees Bahji, Gustavo H. Vazquez, Carlos A. Zarate, Comparative efficacy of racemic ketamine and esketamine for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 278, 2021, Pages 542-555, ISSN 0165-0327, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.071.

Stellate Ganglion Blocks


Kirkpatrick K, Khan MH, Deng Y, Shah KB. A Review of Stellate Ganglion Block as an Adjunctive Treatment Modality. Cureus. 2023;15(2):e35174. Published 2023 Feb 19. doi:10.7759/cureus.35174

Singh, Heena; Rajarathinam, Manikandan. Stellate ganglion block beyond chronic pain: A literature review on its application in painful and non-painful conditions. Journal of Anaesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology 40(2):p 185-191, Apr–Jun 2024. | DOI: 10.4103/joacp.joacp_304_22

Lipov EG, Jacobs R, Springer S, Candido KD, Knezevic NN. Utility of Cervical Sympathetic Block in Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Multiple Cohorts: A Retrospective Analysis. Pain Physician. 2022;25(1):77-85.

Lynch JH, Mulvaney SW, Bryan CJ, Hernandez D. Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2023; 13(6):958. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm13060958

Sean W Mulvaney, James H Lynch, Kamisha E Curtis, Tamara S Ibrahim, The Successful Use of Left-sided Stellate Ganglion Block in Patients That Fail to Respond to Right-sided Stellate Ganglion Block for the Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Retrospective Analysis of 205 Patients, Military Medicine, Volume 187, Issue 7-8, July-August 2022, Pages e826–e829, https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usab056

TMS


Cole EJ, Stimpson KH, Bentzley BS, et al. Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2020;177(8):716-726. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19070720

Cole EJ, Phillips AL, Bentzley BS, et al. Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT): A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2022;179(2):132-141. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.20101429

van Rooij, S.J.H., Arulpragasam, A.R., McDonald, W.M. et al. Accelerated TMS – moving quickly into the future of depression treatment. Neuropsychopharmacol. 49, 128–137 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01599-z

Jithin Thekkelkuthiyathottil Joseph, Rashmi Vishwanath, Samir Kumar Praharaj, Efficacy and safety of accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 106, 2025, 104420, ISSN 1876-2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2025.104420.

Prato, Michele et al. Accelerated repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (aTMS) vs. standard repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of Major Depressive Episodes: A randomized, single-blind, controlled trial. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Volume 4, 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transm.2025.100177.

TMS for Pain

Silva VA, Baptista AF, Fonseca AS, et al. Motor cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in fibromyalgia: a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Br J Anaesth. 2025;134(6):1756-1764. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2024.12.045

Treister R, Lang M, Klein MM, Oaklander AL. Non-invasive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) of the Motor Cortex for Neuropathic Pain-At the Tipping Point?. Rambam Maimonides Med J. 2013;4(4):e0023. Published 2013 Oct 29. doi:10.5041/RMMJ.10130

Nitrous Oxide

Nagele P, Palanca BJ, Gott B, et al. A phase 2 trial of inhaled nitrous oxide for treatment-resistant major depression. Sci Transl Med. 2021;13(597):eabe1376. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.abe1376

Study summary: Laughing gas relieves symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression
Study summary: Low doses of ‘laughing gas’ could be effective in treating severe depression

Nagele P, Zorumski CF, Conway C. Exploring Nitrous Oxide as Treatment of Mood Disorders: Basic Concepts. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2018;38(2):144-148. doi:10.1097/JCP.0000000000000837

Zarate CA Jr, Machado-Vieira R. Potential Pathways Involved in the Rapid Antidepressant Effects of Nitrous Oxide. Biol Psychiatry. 2015;78(1):2-4. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.04.007

Hughes ME. Nitrous Oxide in the Treatment of Depression: A Brief Review. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal. 2024;20(2):18-21. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2024.200207

Guimarães MC, Guimarães TM, Hallak JE, Abrão J, Machado-de-Sousa JP. Nitrous oxide as an adjunctive therapy in major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled double-blind pilot trial. Braz J Psychiatry. 2021;00:000-000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2020-1543