GENET - A novel international research collaboration for the standardized collection and sharing of ECT treatment data and associated biosignals – Implementation, Application, and Findings

International Brain Stimulation Conference - 2021

Abstract

Eighty years of ECT related research, ranging from controlled clinical investigations to genetics and neurophysiology, has greatly advanced our understanding of the basic and therapeutic mechanisms involved. However, several factors are known to obstruct large-scale retro- and prospective investigations of the basic treatment variables, such as applied charge or EEG-Length. Mainly, existing data collection procedures are inefficient at handling and exporting multi-dimensional panel data structures and EEG, ECG, or EMG related biosignals. Currently these can merely be analyzed by using pre-calculated parameters like the postictal suppression index or maximum sustained coherence. To address these issues, we focus on the standardized collection and collaborative analysis of longitudinal ECT-data and present a novel international multicenter research cooperation. Using a digital data collection tool allows for efficient storage and analysis of each patient’s treatment data, including biosignals like EEG, ECG, and EMG. Along with the collection tool’s added benefit of data transfer to clinical computer systems, several collaborative research opportunities arise and are outlined. Data of 191 patients suffering from major depressive disorder served as a longitudinal clinical research-usecase: We analyzed interrelations between trajectories of clinical impression, seizure quality, and stimulation dose across electroconvulsive therapy treatment by modeling linear growth using multilevel models. Furthermore, we introduce EEG analysis and machine learning pipelines allowing for feature extraction from multivariate time series data, for example seizure related biosignals, which may be used to predict seizure activity and possibly guide clinical decision making. We will discuss specific challenges of using a big-data approach to the highly complex ECT-treatment data and related biosignals, such as nested multidimensional and variable length time series data.

M Kiebs & N Freundlieb (2021). GENET - A novel international research collaboration for the standardized collection and sharing of ECT treatment data and associated biosignals – Implementation, Application, and Findings. Brain Stimulation 14(6):P1737-1738. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.10.498

part of Symposium session 1f - Connecting the dots – Multicenter Research Collaborations regarding electroconvulsive therapy