NCT03915821

Memory Changes in Patients With Major Depression Disorder Treated With ECT

Memory Changes in Patients With Major Depression Disorder Treated With Electroconvulsive Therapy

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (actual)
• Sponsor: Assiut University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The basic memory changes (impairment) present in patients with major depression and the influence of the treatment with ECT.

Detailed description

Current literature provides insufficient information on the degree of cognitive impairment during and after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), mostly due to the fact that applied tests lacked sensitivity and flexibility. Our goal was to evaluate cognitive functioning in adult depressed patients treated with bi \& uni lateral \& ECT, using tests sensitive for detection of possible acute and medium-term memory changes.(9) Major depressive disorder (MDD) is estimated to affect around 16 million Americans (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration \[SAMHSA\], 2013) and, according to the World Health Organization, is the leading cause of disability worldwide (World Health Organization 2012). Among In the U.S. workforce, the prevalence of MDD has been estimated at 7.6% .(2) Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for severe depression but entails cognitive adverse effects, particularly the effects on memory. ECT may cause a temporary deficit in the cognitive processes of information encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Transient memory disturbances are regarded as an inevitable adverse effect of therapeutic convulsions. Various strategies have been tried to decrease the cognitive adverse effects while retaining the antidepressant effect, including the use of unilateral instead of bilateral electrode placement, changes in waveform, and reducing the electrical stimulus intensity, (4).

Conditions

• Depressive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	ECT	Electroconvulsive therapy was administered by using bidirectional constant current, brief-pulse devices. During the procedure, the patients were sedated using propofol or thiopenthal. Succinylcholine (1 mg/kg) was used as muscle relaxant, and glycopyrrolate (0.2 mg) or atropine was used as an anticholinergic agent when necessary. The mean charges were 351 (SD, 143) mC for the unilateral electrode placement group, 417 (SD, 192) mC for the bitemporal electrode placement group and 260 (SD, 76) mC for the bifrontal electrode placement group, (Brus, Ole MSc, 2017). The average course of treatment for depression is 6 to 12 treatments, but some patients may require as many as 20 treatments,

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-12-15
• Primary completion: 2021-06-15
• Completion: 2022-03-30
• First posted: 2019-04-16
• Last updated: 2023-07-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Egypt