Case report demonstrates improvement in anxiety and depression from superficial siderosis with electroconvulsive therapy, suggesting potential for neuromodulation.
Objectives: To report the first documented case of anxiety and depression related to superficial siderosis that responded to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Methods: A 58-year-old man with traumatic superficial siderosis presented with panic attacks and major depressive disorder unresponsive to multiple pharmacologic trials. Brain MRI revealed hemosiderin deposition in cerebellar-limbic structures. A course of bifrontal brief-pulse ECT (8 sessions) was administered. Results: After 8 sessions, the patient experienced full remission of panic attacks and functional recovery. The PHQ-9 score decreased from 21 to 7, and the GAD-7 score decreased from 19 to 6, with sustained improvement at the six-week follow-up. Conclusions: This case suggests that ECT can safely and effectively target cerebellar-limbic circuit dysfunction in superficial siderosis and supports further investigation into neuromodulation for refractory psychiatric symptoms in this population.
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Pierpoint et al. (2025) studied this question.
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