Acute embolic stroke after electroconvulsive therapy

This is the case report of a 44-year-old woman presented with an acute stroke immediately after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The patient had no significant medical history other than chronic depression. She was taking sertraline, and she had had multiple previous ECT treatments without any complications. While being monitored in the recovery room within 10 minutes after the last ECT session, she was found to have sudden onset of left-sided flaccid hemiplegia and numbness along with slurred speech. On arrival to our hospital, she was found to have flaccid hemiplegia on the left side involving the face, arm, and leg (face and arm more than the leg involvement), severe dysarthria, and mild neglect syndrome (National Health Institute Stroke Scale of 14). Noncontrast computed tomography (CT) of the head showed no signs of early ischemia, and iodine contrast CT angiography revealed right middle cerebral artery (MCA) (distal M1 segment) clot. Patient received intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen (rt-PA) at 2.5 hours after the onset of symptoms, and then a total of 3.0 mg of intra-arterial (IA) rt-PA. Angiography at the end of the procedure showed successful recanalization of the M1 segment and normal vessel caliber with adequate distal flow. After the procedure, the patient made rapid improvements in all of her initial symptoms during the first 24 hours. An extensive stroke workup failed to reveal any cause of the stroke, including usual stroke and hypercoagulable risk factors. This was an acute embolic stroke immediately following an ECT, and without the aggressive thrombolytic therapy, the patient's outcome would have been poor because there was an M1 segment clot with a major MCA syndrome with relatively high National Institute of Health Stroke Scale. The neurological side effect profile of ECT is reported to be minimal with most common symptoms being headache, disorientation, and memory complaints. There is no clear cause-and-effect relationship in this case, and the stroke after ECT is extremely rare. In such rare event of stroke while receiving ECT, there is an effective treatment available using both intravenous and IA thrombolysis as reported in this case.