UGDSB to celebrate Mental Health and Education Week - Upper Grand District School Board

Ketamine, a medication used in operating rooms for anesthesia and pain control, may offer another benefit for some new mothers: easing early symptoms of postpartum depression after cesarean delivery (C-section), according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2026 annual meeting. A new meta-analysis found that administering ketamine or esketamine (a ketamine derivative) during or immediately after a C-section was associated with a statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms within the first two weeks after birth, a vulnerable period for women as they recover from surgery and care for their infants.

Mobile app-based monitoring may help address the vulnerable days and weeks after surgery when recovery shifts from the hospital to home with little direct supervision. Patients using mobile apps had lower risk of serious complications, emergency room visits and readmissions after surgery, but the benefits depended on physician or other clinician involvement, rather than the technology alone, according to research presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2026 annual meeting. Just using an app may not make recovery safer. The biggest benefit occurs when a clinician is actually reviewing what patients send and can act on it. Patients should ask: 'Who is looking at this information, how quickly will they respond and what happens if something looks wrong?'"