Identifying Treatment Response of Sertraline in a Teenager with Selective Mutism using Electrophysiological Neuroimaging.

Abstract

BACKGROUND Selective Mutism is described as the inability to verbally express oneself in anxiety provoking social situations and may result in awkward social interactions in school-aged children. In this case-report we present the baseline electrophysiological neuroimaging results and after treatment with Sertraline for 6-weeks. METHODS A 20-channel EEG event-related potential recording was acquired during an internal voice task at baseline prior to the initiation of 50mg of Sertraline and then repeated 6-weeks after treatment with Sertraline. EEG signals were processed for movement, eye-blink, and muscle artifacts and ERP signal averaging was completed. ERPs were analyzed using Standard Low Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA). RESULTS At baseline, Sertraline increased the neuronal activation in the middle temporal gyrus and the anterior cingulate gyrus from baseline in the patient following 6-weeks of treatment. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that electrophysiological neuroimaging may provide a creative approach for personalizing medicine by providing insight to the pharmacodynamics of antidepressants.