Anesthesiology Department, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Yazd, Iran.
J ECT. 2012 Mar;28(1):10-3. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0b013e31822a6b8e.
Although the therapeutic effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on major depressive disorder is widely investigated, there is a gap in literature regarding the possible effects of the medications used for induction of anesthesia in ECT. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first randomized double-blind clinical trial comparing the effect of etomidate and sodium thiopental on the depression symptoms in patients who have received ECT.
The participants of this study are 60 adult patients with major depressive disorder who were referred for ECT. They were randomly allocated into 1 of the 2 groups. One group received etomidate, and the other group received sodium thiopental, as medication for induction of anesthesia. All the patients received bilateral ECT. The outcomes measures included the Beck Depression Inventory score, seizure duration, and recovery duration after induction of anesthesia.
The sex ratio and mean age were not different between the 2 groups. Linear regression analysis showed that etomidate decreased the depression score more than did sodium thiopental. Seizure duration in all of the sessions in the etomidate group was significantly higher than that of sodium thiopental group.
In conclusion, etomidate may improve major depressive disorder more than sodium thiopental in patients who are receiving ECT.
电抽搐治疗（ECT）对重度抑郁症的治疗效果已得到广泛研究，但关于用于诱导麻醉的药物对 ECT 可能产生的影响，文献中仍存在空白。据作者所知，这项研究是首次比较依托咪酯和硫喷妥钠对接受 ECT 的患者抑郁症状影响的随机双盲临床试验。
本研究的参与者为 60 名成年重度抑郁症患者，他们被转介接受 ECT。他们被随机分配到 2 个组中的 1 个。一组接受依托咪酯，另一组接受硫喷妥钠作为诱导麻醉的药物。所有患者均接受双侧 ECT。结局指标包括贝克抑郁量表评分、癫痫发作持续时间和麻醉诱导后恢复时间。
两组之间的性别比例和平均年龄无差异。线性回归分析显示，依托咪酯降低抑郁评分的效果优于硫喷妥钠。依托咪酯组所有疗程的癫痫发作持续时间均显著长于硫喷妥钠组。
总之，在接受 ECT 的患者中，依托咪酯可能比硫喷妥钠更能改善重度抑郁症。
