Overview

Neurorestorative Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Patients With Severe Late Life Depression

Status:
Completed

Trial end date:
2015-12-01

Target enrollment:
0

Participant gender:
All

Summary

To study the potential neurorestorative effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in depressed patients by measuring brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) serum levels and hippocampal volumes in severely depressed patients receiving ECT.

Phase:

N/A

Accepts Healthy Volunteers?

Details

Lead Sponsor:

Universitaire Ziekenhuizen Leuven

Collaborator:

VU University of Amsterdam

Treatments:

Anesthetics
Etomidate
Succinylcholine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients are considered suitable after they were diagnosed as having severe depression
according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV criteria) and were above 55
years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

- another major psychiatric illness, (a history of) a major neurological illness
(including Parkinson's disease, stroke, and dementia) and metal implants precluding
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Subjects were included at the University Psychiatric Center Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
(KU Leuven), Belgium and Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg in Geest (GGZinGeest), Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. The project is part of the project Mood Disorders in Elderly and
Electroconvulsive therapy (MODECT).