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Sukdeb Mukherjee

Publications and source records attributed to Sukdeb Mukherjee.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Combined ECT and Lithium Therapy.

Current guidelines for clinical practice advise against the concurrent use of lithium during a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) owing to an increased risk of morbidity involving the central nervous system. A reappraisal of the evidence indicates that the hazards of this combination treatment may have been overestimated. Although the potential therapeutic advantages of the combination treatment over ECT or lithium alone remain to be clarified, in special clinical situations, and with proper precautions, ECT-lithium combination may be used safely and effectively as an alternative treatment strategy where conventional therapeutic approaches have failed.

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PubMed1992

Unmodified Electroconvulsive Therapy of Acute Mania: A Retrospective Naturalistic Study.

In this retrospective naturalistic study, clinical records were reviewed to examine the effects of unmodified electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in 30 manic patients at a psychiatric institute in India. Twenty of the patients were experiencing their first episode of a major mood disorder. ECT was associated with complete remission of mania in 26 (87%) of the patients. The remaining four patients were discharged home with residual hypomanic symptoms. On average, the patients received 5.4 treatments, and the duration from initiation of ECT to discharge from hospital was 12.9 days. The number of treatments was not related to age, age at onset, duration of index episode prior to treatment, or presence of psychosis. No patient developed an organic brain syndrome or sustained a bone fracture during unmodified ECT. One month follow-up data were available in 27 of the 30 patients. Recurrence of manic symptoms following discharge occurred in three (11%) patients. For those in whom 3 month follow-up data were available, all 15 were in complete clinical remission. The induced convulsion, and not repeated administration of general anesthetics, is integral to the antimanic effect of ECT.

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PubMed1989

Mechanisms of the Antimanic Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

The available evidence indicates that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has a marked and specific antimanic effect. Data on change in seizure threshold during ECT and acute effects of ECT on cerebral blood flow are presented in support of the view that the therapeutic effects of ECT are related to its anticonvulsant properties in manic patients. Specifically, an antimanic effect of ECT was associated with a significantly greater increase in seizure threshold during bilateral ECT and, across treatment conditions, with a significantly greater reduction in cerebral blood flow acutely following ECT. A low initial seizure threshold during bilateral ECT was found to be associated with a poor therapeutic response. This, along with earlier findings in depressed patients, suggests that heterogeneity of the disease processes underlying mood disorders may be critical for an understanding of the mechanisms of action of ECT.

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PubMed1989

Electroconvulsive Therapy in the Treatment of Episodic Aggressive Dyscontrol in Psychotic Patients.

Five patients with chronic psychosis and episodic aggressive dyscontrol were treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Four patients also demonstrated clinical evidence of seizure disorder. ECT resulted in marked reduction of both episodic aggressive dyscontrol and clinical seizures, with modest improvement of psychosis. No patient developed clinical signs of organic brain syndrome during ECT. Albeit in a small number of patients, our findings indicate that ECT may have short-term therapeutic effects on episodic aggressive dyscontrol in patients with chronic psychoses.

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PubMed1988

Unilateral ECT in the Treatment of Manic Episodes.

It has been suggested that unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is less effective than bilateral ECT in manic patients. In a pilot study, six medication-resistant manic patients received either left or right unilateral ECT. In an ongoing study, 14 similar patients were randomly assigned to receive left unilateral, right unilateral, or bilateral ECT. Across both studies, a therapeutic equivalence for unilateral and bilateral ECT was found. Possible reasons for disparate findings with respect to the efficacy of unilateral ECT in mania are discussed.

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PubMed1986

Neurophysiological Variability in the Effects of the ECT Stimulus.

There is evidence that, in addition to seizure elicitation, critical factors in therapeutic response to ECT may include aspects of stimulus parameters and electrode placement. Dr. Abrams suggests that these factors contribute to efficacy by influencing the degree of seizure generalization, diencephalic stimulation, and relative asymmetry in the slowing of EEG frequencies. An alternative view is presented here, which hypothesizes that these factors converge in influencing the regional distribution and strength of the endogenous inhibitory process that terminates the seizure.

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