Conditions: Depressive Disorder, Major
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 11
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine whether taking the medication memantine reduces impairment of memory and attention associated with electroconvulsive therapy.

Detailed description:
The primary objective of this study is to determine whether the novel NMDA antagonist memantine, FDA approved for use in moderate to severe alzheimers dementia, may reduce the neurocognitive deficits associated with right unilateral ECT treatments in patients receiving ECT for a severe and relatively refractory Major Depressive episode.

Our hypothesis is that the use of an NMDA antagonist would reduce intracellular calcium levels, and glutamatergic stimulation during ECT. This reduction in excitatory stimulation during ECT would reduce hippocampal and prefrontal neuronal endangerment and dysfunction, thereby reducing cognitive impairment associated with right unilateral ECT treatments. We also hypothesize that ACTH and cortisol levels will correlate with neurocognitive impairment in placebo treated subjects, but not in the memantine treated individuals.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients received a placebo capsule starting the day before ECT begins and while receiving ECT arm 2: Patients receive memantine starting the day before ECT begins and while receiving ECT

Interventions: intervention 1: memantine intervention 2: Placebo Oral Capsule
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Patients received a memantine containing capsule starting the day before ECT begins and while receiving ECT intervention 2: Patients received a placebo capsule starting the day before ECT begins and while receiving ECT

Protocol document: