Disorders of the Nervous System
Author: María Eugenia Samman | Email: mariaeugeniasamman@gmail.com
María Eugenia Samman 1°, Lucía Fazzito 2°, Leticia Fiorentini 2°, Cecilia Forcato 1°, Joan Camprodon-Gimenez 3°, Elsa Y. Costanzo 2°, Salvador M. Guinjoan 4°, Mirta F. Villarreal 5°
1° Laboratorio de Sueño y Memoria, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, ITBA, Argentina
2° Servicio de Psiquiatría, Fleni, Argentina
3° Division of Neuropsychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, EE.UU
4° Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Saint Francis Health System, EE.UU
5° Instituto de neurociencias, Fleni-CONICET (INEU), Argentina
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a serious public health problem, due to its high prevalence and the severe disability that it can entail. In 30-40% of patients there is an incomplete response after two therapeutic attempts with an adequate dose and duration. In this group, considered to suffer from treatment-resistant MDD (TRMDD), the most effective therapeutic option is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). There are no standardized and reproducible biomarkers to predict response to ECT in TRMDD.
We are carrying out a study aimed at characterizing structural connectivity as a predictor of response to ECT treatment. To this end, we are measuring diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance neuroimaging and clinical, including cognitive, evaluations, are being explored in a group of 26 patients with TRMDD in the Service of Psychiatry of Fleni Foundation.