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Clonidine to Prevent Delirium After Electroconvulsive Therapy.
Sponsor: Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern
Summary
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective treatment for some psychiatric disorders like major depressive or bipolar disorder, but may lead to agitation and delirium after the procedure in up to 65% of patients. This can have negative side effects and be dangerous for patient and attending staff. Clonidine, a central-acting alpha2-receptor agonist, is an approved antihypertensive medication with known sedative side effects. Clonidine's newer but more expensive successor, dexmedetomidine, has recently shown its potential to reduce this kind of delirium. The investigators therefore hypothesise that pre-treatment with 2 mcg/kg clonidine prior to electroconvulsive therapy will significantly reduce the incidence of postictal delirium. This potentially makes a highly efficient treatment for patients with otherwise refractory psychiatric illness safer and more accessible.
Official title: Clonidine to Prevent Postictal Delirium After ElectroConvulsive Therapy: a Randomised, Placebo-controlled, Triple-blind, Single-centre Trial.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
130
Start Date
2021-04-27
Completion Date
2026-07-31
Last Updated
2025-08-06
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Clonidine
Clonidine 2mcg/kg Body Weight diluted in 100ml sodium chloride 0.9% compared to placebo (sodium chloride 0.9% alone) given over 10 minutes, 10 minutes prior to electroconvulsive therapy.
Placebo
Sodium chloride 0.9% 100ml given over 10minutes, 10 minutes prior to electroconvulsive therapy.
Locations (1)
Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland