Clinical Neuroscience of ECT (CNECT)

Here's a simple question to OE to remind us of how few ECT practitioners there are in the US. (Even 8% of 50,000 = 4000 seems high, and there are likely even fewer than that.) Another important, and probably unknown number, is what percentage of psychiatrists refer patients for ECT. And fewer than 2%of hospitalized depressed patients receive ECT, as we will see tomorrow.

 Out on PubMed, from authors in China, is this paper: EEG Temporal-Spatial Feature Learning for Automated Selection of Stimulus Parameters in Electroconvulsive Therapy. Wang F, Chen D, Weng S, Gao T, Zuo Y, Zheng Y. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2024 Oct 31;PP. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2024.3489221. Online ahead of print. PMID:  39480724 The abstract is copied below: The risk of adverse effects in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), such as cognitive impairment, can be high if an excessive stimulus is applied to induce the necessary generalized seizure (GS); Conversely, inadequate stimulus results in failure. Recent efforts to automate this task can facilitate statistical analyses on individual parameters or qualitative predictions. However, this automation still significantly lags behind the requirements in clinical practices. This study addresses this issue by predicting the probability of GS induction under the joint restriction of a patient's EEG (electroencephalogram) and the stimulus pa

 Out on PubMed, from a clinician in Iraq, is this case report: Role of Cariprazine in Managing and Preventing Refractory Catatonia: A Case Study. Qasab ZA. Cureus. 2024 Sep 30;16(9):e70538. doi: 10.7759/cureus.70538. eCollection 2024 Sep.  PMID:  39479081   The abstract is copied below: This case study explores the management of a 22-year-old male patient diagnosed with recurrent refractory catatonia, a neuropsychiatric condition characterized by motor, behavioral, and autonomic disturbances often associated with bipolar disorder. Despite comprehensive investigations, including normal results in tests such as complete blood count (CBC), liver function tests (LFT), thyroid function tests (TFT), renal function tests (RFT), C-reactive protein (CRP), creatine kinase (CKP), and serum electrolytes, the patient's condition persisted. Initial treatments with conventional therapies, such as benzodiazepines, proved unsuccessful. However, the introduction of cariprazine, an atypical antipsych