Concurrent catatonia and COVID-19 infection - An experiential account of challenges and management of cases from a tertiary care psychiatric hospital in India.
Asian J Psychiatr
; 69: 103004, 2022 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1637202
ABSTRACT
Catatonia has been reported as one among many neuropsychiatric manifestations associated with COVID-19 infection. Catatonia and COVID-19 co-occurrence remain clinical concerns, often posing challenges pertaining to diagnosis, and especially management. Limited information is available regarding the appropriate approaches to the management of catatonia in COVID-19 infection, particularly with reference to the safety and efficacy of benzodiazepines and Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). We present our experience of five patients with catatonia consequent to heterogeneous underlying causes and concurrent COVID-19 infection, who received care at the psychiatric COVID unit of our tertiary care psychiatric hospital. An interesting observation included varying underlying causes for catatonia and the potential role that COVID-19 infection may have played in the manifestation of catatonia. In our experience, new-onset catatonia with or without pre-existing psychiatric illness and concurrent COVID-19 can be safely and effectively managed with lorazepam and/or ECTs. However, critical to the same is the need to implement modified protocols that integrate pre-emptive evaluation for COVID-19 disease and proactive monitoring of its relevant clinical parameters, thereby permitting judicious and timely implementation of catatonia-specific treatment options.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Catatonia
/
Electroconvulsive Therapy
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Asian J Psychiatr
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.ajp.2022.103004
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