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Clonidine to Prevent Delirium After Electroconvulsive Therapy.

NCT04828226 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE4 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 130

Last updated 2026-05-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective treatment for some psychiatric disorders like major depressive or bipolar disorder, but may lead to agitation and delirium after the procedure in up to 65% of patients. This can have negative side effects and be dangerous for patient and attending staff. Clonidine, a central-acting alpha2-receptor agonist, is an approved antihypertensive medication with known sedative side effects. Clonidine's newer but more expensive successor, dexmedetomidine, has recently shown its potential to reduce this kind of delirium. The investigators therefore hypothesise that pre-treatment with 2 mcg/kg clonidine prior to electroconvulsive therapy will significantly reduce the incidence of postictal delirium. This potentially makes a highly efficient treatment for patients with otherwise refractory psychiatric illness safer and more accessible.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Clonidine

Clonidine 2mcg/kg Body Weight diluted in 100ml sodium chloride 0.9% compared to placebo (sodium chloride 0.9% alone) given over 10 minutes, 10 minutes prior to electroconvulsive therapy.

DRUG

Placebo

Sodium chloride 0.9% 100ml given over 10minutes, 10 minutes prior to electroconvulsive therapy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Bern

    collaborator OTHER

  • Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Patrick Y Wüthrich, Prof, MD · Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-04-27
Primary Completion
2026-05-16
Completion
2026-05-16

Countries

  • Switzerland

Study Locations

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Entities

Drugs
Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04828226 on ClinicalTrials.gov