Electroconvulsive therapy in the medically Ill

Abstract

The use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the US continues to expand in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Electroconvulsive therapy remains the "gold standard" for the treatment of major depression and a variety of other psychiatric and neurologic disorders. Because of the effectiveness and resurgence of ECT, more patients are considered good candidates for this treatment option. Overall, these patients are medication refractory and elderly, and thus more sensitive to polypharmacy. Additionally, these patients tend to have more coexisting medical problems, and often require that a practitioner have solid clinical knowledge of the fields of medicine and psychiatry. This article will review some of the most common comorbid conditions found in patients referred for ECT.

Repairing the human brain after stroke. II. Restorative therapies

“…Electromagnetic stimulation has been used to modulate a number of functions and behaviors, and thus warrants consideration in poststroke restorative therapeutics. Indeed, a brain‐wide form of electromagnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy, remains the gold standard for the treatment of major depression, against which the performance of pharmacological antidepressant interventions is compared 54. Several different goals have been pursued in the application of electromagnetic stimulation toward promoting recovery from stroke.…”

Safe performance of ECT in severely ill patients: A retrospective study

“…There is a body of evidence that ECT can be performed safely in highly comorbid or old patients, even in the old-old [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] . Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there are only a few retrospective studies dealing with efficacy and safety of highly comorbid patients or geriatric patients with at least some relevant comorbidity.…”

La catatonia emerge de nuevo

“…La TEC sigue siendo recomendada por la American Psychiatric Association como el tratamiento má s eficaz de la catatonia 44 , y puede utilizarse con seguridad en numerosas condiciones mé dicas 2,4,17,20 . El uso temprano de la TEC está recomendado en casos con gran inestabilidad autonó mica-vegetativa o hipertermia.…”