Blogger on Thanksgiving Hiatus

 I will be taking a break from the blog around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

The blog will resume towards the end of the month.

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ECT plus Antidepressants: a Review

Out on PubMed, from researchers in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is this review: Influence of an adjuvant antidepressant on the efficacy of  electroconvulsive  therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pluijms EM, Kamperman AM, Hoogendijk WJ, Birkenhäger TK, van den Broek WW. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2020 Sep 8:4867420952543. doi: 10.1177/0004867420952543. Online ahead of print. PMID:  32900217 Here is the "Conclusion" section from the text: Our results suggest that an adjuvant antidepressant enhances the efficacy of ECT in patients with major depression. Although the included studies had some methodological limitations, effect sizes were consistently small to moderate. We speculate that modern-day controlled trials using adequately dosed TCAs and MAOIs will most likely result in larger effect sizes. From a clinical point of view, we prefer an adjuvant TCA to an adjuvant MAOI, since TCAs are generally safe to use with ECT ( American Psychiatric Association, 2001 ; ...
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Happy Birthday to Max Fink!

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Happy 102nd birthday to Max Fink, MD! Max Fink, an icon in our field, is one of the most influential ECT researchers, practitioners and advocates of all time. He has also been a friend and mentor to many of us in the ECT world, and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. Please join me in wishing him all the best today!                                                    Max Fink, October 2024, with Andrea and Charles Kellner
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Clinical Phenotype of Behavioral-Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Reversed by ECT: A Case Report

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Out on PubMed, from authors in Germany, is this case report and literature review: Clinical Phenotype of Behavioral-Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Reversed by  ECT : A Case Report. Breitling B, Bartels C, Lange C, Bouter C, Falk HS, Wiltfang J, Zilles-Wegner D, Besse M. Neuropsychobiology. 2024 Dec 2:1-12. doi: 10.1159/000541668. Online ahead of print. PMID:  39622206 The abstract is copied below: Introduction: Diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) remains difficult even in the presence of core clinical and imaging features. Furthermore, disease-modifying treatments are lacking. Case presentation: Here, we report a case of a patient with clinical and imaging features of FTD. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was used to target affective and catatonic symptoms. After ECT, the patient showed improvements not only in affective symptoms but also in cognitive domains, leading to a marked improvement in the patient's level of functioning. Conclusion: Against the background of di...
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