Clinical Neuroscience of ECT (CNECT)

 Out on PubMed, from colleagues in Ireland, is this study: PBMC telomerase activity in depression and the response to electroconvulsive therapy. Ryan KM, Finnegan M, Harkin A, McLoughlin DM. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2021 Jul 15. doi: 10.1007/s00406-021-01294-4. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34268617 The abstract is copied below: Telomerase, the DNA polymerase responsible for maintaining telomere length, has previously been implicated in depression and the response to antidepressant drugs. In this study, we aimed to compare telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells between patients with severe depression recruited as part of the KEEP-WELL Trial (Ketamine for Depression Relapse Prevention Following ECT; NCT02414932 ) and age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers both at baseline/pre-ECT and at follow-up 1 month later for controls or in patients after a course of ECT. We found no differences in telomerase activity between patients with depression (n = 20) ...

Out on Pubmed, from researchers in England, is this review: Neuromodulation in Super-refractory Status Epilepticus. Stavropoulos I, Pak HL, Valentin A. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Jul 6. doi: 10.1097/WNP.0000000000000710. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34261110 The abstract is copied below: Status epilepticus (SE) is a severe condition that needs immediate pharmacological treatment to tackle brain damage and related side effects. In approximately 20% of cases, the standard treatment for SE does not control seizures, and the condition evolves to refractory SE. If refractory status epilepticus lasts more than 24 hours despite the use of anesthetic treatment, the condition is redefined as super-refractory SE (srSE). sRSE is a destructive condition, potentially to cause severe brain damage. In this review, we discuss the clinical neuromodulation techniques for controlling srSE when conventional treatments have failed: electroconvulsive therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, transcranial magnet...

Out on PubMed, from international researchers, is this review: The Neurobiological Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy Studied Through Magnetic Resonance: What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go? Ousdal OT, Brancati GE, Kessler U, Erchinger V, Dale AM, Abbott C, Oltedal L. Biol Psychiatry. 2021 May 31:S0006-3223(21)01340-8. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.023. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34274106 The abstract is copied below: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an established treatment choice for severe, treatment-resistant depression, yet its mechanisms of action remain elusive. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human brain before and after treatment has been crucial to aid our comprehension of the ECT neurobiological effects. However, to date, a majority of MRI studies have been underpowered and have used heterogeneous patient samples as well as different methodological approaches, altogether causing mixed results and poor clinical translation. Hence, an association betw...

Out on PubMed, from investigators in the Netherlands, is this study: Dynamic time warp analysis of individual symptom trajectories in depressed patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy. Booij MM, van Noorden MS, van Vliet IM, Ottenheim NR, van der Wee NJA, Van Hemert AM, Giltay EJ. J Affect Disord. 2021 Jul 2;293:435-443. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.068. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34252687 The abstract is copied below: Background: Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) effectively improves severity scores of depression, its effects on its individual symptoms has scarcely been studied. We aimed to study which depressive symptom trajectories dynamically cluster together in individuals as well as groups of patients during ECT using Dynamic Time Warp (DTW) analysis. Methods: We analysed the standardized weekly scores on the 25-item abbreviated version of the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS) in depressed patients before and during their first six weeks of ...

Out on PubMed, from investigators in France, is this review: Using EEG to Predict Clinical Response to Electroconvulsive Therapy in Patients With Major Depression: A Comprehensive Review. Simon L, Blay M, Galvao F, Brunelin J. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Jun 24;12:643710. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.643710. eCollection 2021. PMID:  34248695   The abstract is copied below: Introduction: An important approach to improve the therapeutic effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be to early characterize patients who are more likely to respond. Our objective was to explore whether baseline electroencephalography (EEG) settings before the beginning of ECT treatment can predict future clinical response to ECT in patients with depressive disorder. Methods: We conducted a systematic search in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases to identify studies using EEG in adults with depressive disorder treated by ECT. To...

 Out on PubMed, from clinicians in Greece, is this case report: Catatonia Associated with Hyponatremia: Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature. Peritogiannis V, Rizos DV. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2021 May 24;17:26-30. doi: 10.2174/1745017902117010026. eCollection 2021. PMID:  34249136 The abstract is copied below: Background: Catatonia is a syndrome of altered motor behavior that is mostly associated with general medical, neurologic, mood and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The association of newly onset catatonic symptoms with hyponatremia has been rarely reported in the literature. Case presentation: We present a rare case of a young female patient with schizophrenia, who presented with catatonic symptoms in the context of hyponatremia due to water intoxication. The symptoms were eliminated with the correction of hyponatremia. There are only a few reports of hyponatremia-associated catatonia in psychiatric and non-psychiatric patients. Sometimes, catatonic...

Out on PubMed, from investigators at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, is this paper: A Systematic Review of Neuromodulation Treatment Effects on Suicidality. Kucuker MU, Almorsy AG, Sonmez AI, Ligezka AN, Doruk Camsari D, Lewis CP, Croarkin PE. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021 Jun 25;15:660926. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.660926. eCollection 2021. PMID:  34248523   The abstract is copied below: Introduction: Neuromodulation is an important group of therapeutic modalities for neuropsychiatric disorders. Prior studies have focused on efficacy and adverse events associated with neuromodulation. Less is known regarding the influence of neuromodulation treatments on suicidality. This systematic review sought to examine the effects of various neuromodulation techniques on suicidality. Methods: A systematic review of the literature from 1940 to 2020 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline was conducted. Any reported suicide-relat...

Out on PubMed, from researchers in Israel, is this paper: Blood   transcriptional  response to treatment-resistant depression during electroconvulsive therapy. Israel-Elgali I, Hertzberg L, Shapira G, Segev A, Krieger I, Nitzan U, Bloch Y, Pillar N, Mayer O, Weizman A, Gurwitz D, Shomron N. J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Jun 22;141:92-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.06.039. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34182381 The abstract is copied below: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the first-line antidepressant drug treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). Treatment-resistant depression (TRD), defined as failure to achieve remission despite adequate treatment, affects ~30% of persons with MDD. The current recommended treatment for TRD is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), while ketamine is an experimentally suggested treatment. This study aimed to elucidate the transcriptional differences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) between individuals...

Out on Pubmed, from investigators in Korea, is this paper: Fever as a Side Effect after Electroconvulsive Therapy. Jo YT, Lee J, Joo YH. Neuropsychobiology. 2021 Jul 7:1-9. doi: 10.1159/000511542. Online ahead of print. PMID:  34233323 The abstract is copied below: Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most important and safe nonpharmacological treatment for psychiatric disorders. Some patients experience unexplained fever after ECT, but only a few studies have reported on this. Method: We investigated fever after ECT by retrospectively reviewing the medical records of patients. Patients treated at the ECT unit of the Department of Psychiatry at Asan Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea, between 30 June 2004 and 30 June 2019, were included. Differences in variables were compared between groups with or without fever after ECT sessions. Result: There were 28 patients (8.8%) in the fever group. Forty-three ECT sessions (1.5%) resulted in fever after treatment. The female-to...

Out on PubMed, from investigators in Russia and Germany, is this paper: Electroconvulsive  Therapy (ECT) in Bipolar Disorder Patients with Ultra-Rapid Cycling and Unstable Mixed States. Mosolov S, Born C, Grunze H. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 Jun 15;57(6):624. doi: 10.3390/medicina57060624. PMID:  34203943     The abstract is copied below: Background and Objectives: Unstable mixed episodes or rapid switching between opposite affective poles within the scope of short cycles was first characterized in 1967 by S. Mentzos as complex polymorphous states with chaotic overlap of manic and depressive symptoms. Well-known examples include antidepressant-induced mania/hypomania and rapid/ultra-rapid/ultradian cycling, when clinicians observe an almost continuous mixed state with a constant change of preponderance of manic or depressive symptoms. Achieving stable remission in these cases is challenging with almost no data on evidence-based treatment. When mood stabilizers are ineff...

Out on PubMed, from researchers in Korea, is this article: Systematic Review of the Neural Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Patients with Schizophrenia: Hippocampus and Insula as the Key Regions of Modulation. Moon SY, Kim M, Lho SK, Oh S, Kim SH, Kwon JS. Psychiatry Investig. 2021 Jun;18(6):486-499. doi: 10.30773/pi.2020.0438. Epub 2021 Jun 24. PMID:  34218638   The abstract is copied below: Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been the most potent treatment option for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). However, the underlying neural mechanisms of ECT in schizophrenia remain largely unclear. This paper examines studies that investigated structural and functional changes after ECT in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: We carried out a systematic review with following terms: 'ECT', 'schizophrenia', and the terms of various neuroimaging modalities. Results: Among the 325 records available from the initial search in May 2020, 17 studies were includ...

Out on PubMed, from researchers in Spain, is this study: Factors Predicting Ictal Quality in Bilateral  Electroconvulsive  Therapy Sessions. de Arriba-Arnau A, Dalmau Llitjos A, Soria V, Savino S, Salvat-Pujol N, Curto J, Menchón JM, Urretavizcaya M. Brain Sci. 2021 Jun 12;11(6):781. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11060781. PMID:  34204783 The abstract is copied below: In electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), ictal characteristics predict treatment response and can be modified by changes in seizure threshold and in the ECT technique. We aimed to study the impact of ECT procedure-related variables that interact during each session and might influence the seizure results. Two hundred and fifty sessions of bilateral ECT in forty-seven subjects were included. Seizure results were evaluated by two different scales of combined ictal EEG parameters (seizure quality index (SQI) and seizure adequacy markers sum (SAMS) scores) and postictal suppression rating. Repeated measurement regression ana...