Prolonged and fluctuating giant T-wave inversion after electroconvulsive therapy

Abstract

A 76-year-old woman was scheduled to receive 8 treatments of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for severe depression. Although she experienced no adverse consequences in the first 2 treatments, giant T-wave inversion ensued from the third treatment despite no change in anesthesia or technical parameters of ECT. T-wave inversion appeared to have almost disappeared 8 days after the third ECT, but reappeared at 3 weeks after treatment during severe pain from gallbladder stone. T-wave inversion lasted for 4 months with gradual attenuation. Exaggerated sympathetic stimulation associated with ECT as physical and emotional stressors might have played a role in the appearance of T-wave inversion similar to catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy. Furthermore, reappearance of T-wave inversion may have been involved in additive effects of pain from gallbladder stone on vulnerability due to a catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy-like condition.