Electroencephalogram Mapping in Sodium Lactate-Induced Panic Attacks: Preliminary Results

Response to sodium lactate infusion has been proposed as a laboratory model for evoking and studying panic attacks and as a possible biological marker for panic disorder (Liebowitz et al. 1984). However, electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings performed during this test yielded contrasting results. Fink et al. (1969) first reported that in five “anxious patients” EEG recording during lactate infusion showed increased β and decreased α bands compared to four healthy controls. Knott et al. (1981) reported a reduction and paradoxical increase of slow waves in six patients with DSM III panic disorder (PD). Lapierre et al. (1984), studying a larger sample of 23 patients with PD and 16 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), confirmed the increase of slow waves in the former but failed to find significant differences in the rate of lactate response between the two groups. However these authors did not use a control group of healthy subjects.