Objective:
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a method of psychiatric treatment based on the establishment of generalized convulsions, results in a controlled stimulation of the brain tissue by an electrical current. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the ECT treatment on hemogram parameters. Although the most common areas of use are depressive episodes that do not respond to medication, it is also effective in the treatment of many diseases such as mania, catatonia, schizophrenia with affective disorders, parkinson's disease and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). Though full blood count before ECT routine, there is no hematologic contraindication for ECT.
Methods:
This study included 30 patients who were admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of Harran University Medical Faculty and who underwent ECT. Hemogram parameters were recorded before and after treatment of patients.
Results:
Of the 25 patients included in the study, 19 (76%) were female, 6 (24%) were male. The ages of the patients ranged from 16 to 56, and the mean age was 33.12±12.06. The mean number of the ECT seances was 9.04±3.12. Number of red blood cells (RBC) and mean hemoglobin amount in erythrocyte cells (MCH) were found to be significantly changes, according to the results of statistical analysis of hemogram parameters before and after ECT. The RBC average value appeared to decline from 4.90 to 4.68 (p=0.018). But the average value of the MCH increased from 27.37 to 27.85 (p=0.036). The changes in the other hemogram parameters were statistically in significant.
Conclusion:
ECT is a safe and an effective and easily applicable treatment method with few adverse effects. This study shows that ECT did not produce any significant statistical changes on many hemogram parameters. Two parameters (RBC and MCH) were found that showed significant changes in our study. More studies are needed to clearly understand how ECT changes the red blood cell count and hemoglobin levels.
Keywords: Electroconvulsive therapy, hemogram parameters, ECT