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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Pupillary Response as Assessment of Effective Seizure Induction by Electroconvulsive Therapy
Published on: April 11, 2019
The impact of galantamine on cognition and mood during electroconvulsive therapy: a pilot study
John D Matthews1, Mark Blais, Lawrence Park
1Massachusetts General Hospital, Inpatient Psychiatric Services, 55 Fruit Street, Warren 1220, Boston, MA 02114, United States. jdmatthews@partners.org
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to: (1) assess the effectiveness of galantamine in the prevention of cognitive impairments during ECT treatment and (2) to explore the safety and tolerability of galantamine during ECT treatment.
Methods:
Nine consecutive ECT patients were given galantamine 4 mg bid throughout the course of their ECT treatments followed by a second cohort of eight consecutive ECT patients who did not receive galantamine. Objective measures of cognitive functioning and depression severity were performed pre-ECT and post-ECT. Subjective ratings of depression, confusion, and side effects were obtained weekly.
Results:
The two groups were similar in age, gender and admission Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) scores. There were no significant between group differences found with regards to mean seizure duration, energy administered to induce seizures, blood pressure, or heart rate during and post-ECT treatment. None of the patients discontinued galantamine due to side effects and there were no severe adverse drug reactions. Patients receiving galantamine performed significantly better on delayed memory and abstract reasoning following ECT. The galantamine group showed a greater but non-significant mood improvement (repeated measure ANOVA).
Conclusions:
Our data support the hypothesis that galantamine may reduce cognitive impairment during ECT, especially with regards to new learning. In addition, galantamine may also enhance the antidepressant action of ECT. Galantamine was both safe and well tolerated during ECT.
