Objective: To review the findings of the four-hospital collaborative studies of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in unipolar depressed patients known as CORE between 1997 and 2011. Unipolar depressed patients were treated with bilateral ECT, and on remission were randomly assigned to a fixed schedule continuation ECT or to combined lithium and nortriptyline for 6 months. A second study compared three electrode placements in unipolar and bipolar depressed patients. Method: Nineteen published reports were reviewed. The findings are compared with those of a parallel multi-hospital study of ECT led by a Columbia University Collaboration (CUC) team that studied right unilateral ECT in a similar population with similar inclusion/exclusion and remission criteria. Successful ECT was followed by placebo, nortriptyline alone, or combined lithium, and nortriptyline. Results: Relapse rates after remission were similar with fixed schedule ECT as with medications. Predictors of outcome (psychosis, suicide risk, polarity, melancholia, atypical depression, age) and technical aspects (electrode placement, seizure threshold, speed of response) are discussed, Conclusion: The findings offer criteria to optimize the selection of patients, the technique, and outcome of ECT for unipolar and bipolar depressed patients. Continuation ECT is an effective alternative to continuation treatment with lithium and nortriptyline. Bilateral electrode placement is more efficient than alternative placements. ECT relieves both bipolar and unipolar depression.
M. FinkDepartments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Stony Brook University, Long Island, NY, USA
Summation• Continuation treatments, either continuation electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or combined nortriptyline and lithium, sustain 6-month remission rates equally after successful courses of ECT in depressed patients.• Unipolar and bipolar depressive mood disordered patients are relieved equally by ECT.• ECT with bitemporal electrode placement is more efficient than treatment with right unilateral placement.• Seizure threshold determinations to determine electricity dosing are neither necessary nor useful for effective ECT.• ECT rapidly relieves active suicide risk.
Consideration• A prescribed fixed treatment schedule for continuation ECT was inefficient. A flexible "as required by symptoms" schedule would have improved outcomes.• Determining the seizure threshold in the first treatment unnecessarily reduced the efficiency of the treatment course. Seizure threshold (ST) calibration is not needed for effective dosing.• Failure to examine neuroendocrine measures during the study lost an opportunity for greater understanding of the mechanism of action of ECT.'This paper is commented on by Tom G. Bolwig (Acta Psyciatr Scand 2014;129:415-416.)'