[Comparative studies of adverse effects in patients with refractory depression treated with amitryptyline, mianserin and unilateral ECT]. / Porównanie objawów niepozadanych u pacjentów z lekooporna depresja leczonych amitryptylina, mianseryna lub elektrowstrzasami jednostronnymi.

The comparative studies of side effects in 180 patients with refractory depression treated with amitriptyline, mianserin and unilateral ECT were performed.

[Anxiety and depression in bronchial asthma]. / Lek i depresja u chorych na astme oskrzelowa.

The aim of the study was to establish the frequency and follow the clinical course of depression and anxiety in patients with bronchial asthma. 57 patients (37 atopic and 20 nonatopic) with mild and moderate bronchial asthma and 53 subjects matched for age and sex as control groups were included in the study. The following questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to evaluate anxiety and mood state. The level and prevalence of anxiety and depression were significantly higher in both groups of asthmatics in comparison to healthy subjects. Symptoms were mild and moderate. Nonatopic patients were more depressed and anxious than atopics.

[Multiple EEG examinations in patients with refractory endogenous depression after unilateral ECT]. / Wielokrotne badania EEG u pacjentów z lekoopornym endogennym zespolem depresyjnym, po leczeniu elektrowstrzasami jednostronnymi.

In 37 inpatients /27 females and 10 males, mean age--49.8 +/- +/- 10.3 years/, with the diagnosis of refractory endogenous depression, after completing a course of unilateral ECT /u-ECT/, multiple EEG examinations were performed during a year of observation. Routine EEG examinations were carried out after a washing out period of two weeks, using an 8 channel Medicor-Orion EEG device. The patients were examined before treatment and 2, 4 and 6 weeks and then 3, 6 and 12 months after the course of ECT. The mean number of ECT which the patients received during a therapeutic session was 8.4 +/- +/- 2.8. Two weeks after completing the course of U-ECT, pathologic tracings in the EEG were found in 17 patients--mainly slowing of the basic alpha activity and slow theta waves. A month after the course of U-ECT in the majority of patients--32 there was a normal EEG tracing. After 6 weeks changes in EEG were found in 2 patients. In one of them they were still present after completion of U-ECT. No significant relationship between the persistence of EEG changes and the number of U-ECT received during the last therapeutic session or the quantity of ECT treatments in the past was detected. The result of this work may support the hypothesis that changes in the biological activity of the brain after ECT therapy are reversible in nature and most probably are a reflection of functional changes in the neurons, partly connected with the therapeutic process or without any relationship with that occurring from a wide spectrum of neurochemical activity of the method of treatment.

[Salivation test in patients with affective disorders treated with amitriptyline, mianserin and electroconvulsive therapy]. / Test slinowy u pacjentów z depresja na podlozu choroby afektywnej, leczonych amitryptylina, mianseryna lub elektrowstrzasami.

The aim of this work was assessment of the peripheral anticholinergic effects by use of a salivary test in patients with depression on the background of affective disease, treated over four weeks in a psychiatric department by one of three methods: amitriptyline, mianserin or nondominant unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (NDULECT). There were 22 patients treated with amitriptyline, 26 mianserin and 20 by NDULECT. The degree of depression was assessed by Hamilton's scale of depression and was similar in the groups of patients compared. Also the amount of saliva excreted was similar in the material examined before treatment. Among the methods of treatment the most severe inhibition of salivation was noted in the group treated with amitriptyline, the least--after NDULECT. Mianserin reduced salivation to a small degree--taking up a middle position in the comparison of methods of treatment. Practically speaking there is a conclusion: in patients whose somatic condition contraindicates, during treatment of endogenous depression, unwanted symptoms occurring after inhibition of the cholinergic receptor, the most acceptable of the three methods would be the use of mianserin or NDULECT.

[What determines decreased mortality among patients treated for alcoholic delirium?]. / Co decyduje o spadku smiertelnosci u chorych leczonych z powodu majaczenia drzennego.

The course and results of treatment of delirium tremens in 218 patients and pre-delirium syndrome in 569 patients treated in the Psychiatric Department of the Hospital for Miners in Bytom between 1966 and 1984 was analysed. During this period there was found mitigation in the severity of the psychosis and a fall in the number of patients displaying the fully developed syndrome in relation to patients suffering from abortive forms (pre-delirium syndromes). Among the patients treated no deaths were noted. In the opinion of the authors the use of appropriate psychotropic drugs in patients with DT is only one of the many factors influencing the course of this psychosis. As important and often more important is intensive somatic treatment of patients in a severe general condition.