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Background & objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the main therapeutic technique in psychiatric diseases. The use of anesthesia for ECT is necessary. In these patients, selection of anesthesia with minimal hemodynamic changes is very important. The aim of this study was to compare the hemodynamic effects of two anesthetics including sodium thiopental and propofol in patients undergoing ECT.
Methods: This study was performed on 84 patients (50 males and 34 females) who were anesthetized for ECT in 22- Bahaman Hospital, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Initially, the hemodynamic status of patients was recorded. Then, they randomly received either sodium thiopental or propofol as an anesthetic and succinylcholine as a muscle relaxant. Hemodynamic changes, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate in the 1, 3 and 10 minutes after ECT, as well as seizure duration and recovery time were recorded. The data were analyzed by SPSS v.20 using independent t-test.
Results: the sodium thiopental group, showed the highest changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in the third minute (45%, 64% and 26% respectively). In the propofol group, the highest systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure changes were 55%, 64% and 43% respectively, at the 10th minute, but the highest pulse rate (33%) occurred in the 3rd minute. The blood pressure changes were significant between the two groups (p<0.05). The post-shock seizure duration was less with sodium thiopental, but recovery from anesthesia was shorter with propofol (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Our findings showed that in the anesthetic required for electroshock, sodium thiopental had a slightly better hemodynamic stability than propofol. Therefore, it seems appropriate to use it as an anesthetic for ECT.
 

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Background & objectives: Depression is a common and debilitating brain disorder and a type of psychiatric syndromes. The most common symptoms of this disease are irritability, worthlessness, sleep problems and anxiety disorders. Reserpine is a drug that can cause depression in animals if used at a very low dose. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the most effective non-pharmacological treatments for depression. In this study, the effect of electroconvulsive therapy on male rats depressed by reserpine in behavioral tests and neural counting in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex areas was investigated.
Methods: In this experimental study, 40 male rats were used and they were divided into four groups of ten: 1-control group, 2- ECT group, 3- Depressed group induced by reserpine (0.2 mg/kg i.p.), 4- Depressed + ECT group. Open field, sucrose preference, forced swimming and elevated plus maze tests were used to evaluate anxiety and depression-related behavioral function. At the end of the tests, histochemical studies were performed with neuronal counting in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
Results: The results of anxiety and depression behavioral tests showed a significant difference between depressed group and depressed+ECT group (p<0.05). Similarly, studies of the tissue degeneration from hippocampal and prefrontal incisions, showed that ECT could significantly decrease cell death in the depressed+ECT group compared to the depressed group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results, ECT can reduce the anxiety and depression behaviors induced by reserpine injections in depressed animals and can cause neurogenesis in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.