Dr. Vincent Carlesi, of Stamford, is offering in-office ketamine infusion for the treatment of pain and depression.
Carlesi of Spine Surgeons of New York told News 12 that ketamine has traditionally been used as anesthesia.
But the pain management specialist says the drug is now given intravenously to treat depression, as well as chronic pain.
“What it does is turns off part of the brain that stimulates neuropathic symptoms – burning, shooting dysethesias; and as far as depression, ketamine blocks the central nervous system where depression lies and it changes the chemical structure so it actually reverses some of the suicidal thoughts that patients are experiencing.”
Carlesi says ketamine is also available in a nasal spray and has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of depression.