Electroconvulsive Therapy for Obesity Treatment

Electroconvulsive Therapy for Obesity Treatment

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, is a well-established, albeit controversial, psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Today, ECT is most often used as a treatment for severe major depression which has not responded to other treatment, and is also used in the treatment of mania (often in bipolar...

Electroconvulsive therapy as treatment for malignant neuroleptic syndrome.

In the era of new antipsychotic drugs the severe symptomatology known by the name of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) continues to have a high incidence and mortality. We review its origin, pathophysiology, diagnostic criteria and staging, particularly with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and proposing a less restrictive use and more adjusted to the updated knowledge of this technique. In ...

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Ketamine Anesthesia for Electroconvulsive Therapy

Ketamine has long been used as an alternative anesthetic agent for ECT. Recently, there has been considerable excitement about its intrinsic antidepressant qualities when given at subanesthetic doses, intravenously or intranasally. We review the clinical use of ketamine as the anesthetic induction agent in ECT and discuss the evidence that it augments antidepressant response and reduces cogniti...

Pre-Treatment Amygdala Volume Predicts Electroconvulsive Therapy Response

BACKGROUND Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for patients with severe depression. Knowledge on factors predicting therapeutic response may help to identify patients who will benefit most from the intervention. Based on the neuroplasticity hypothesis, volumes of the amygdala and hippocampus are possible candidates for predicting treatment outcome. Therefore, this prospect...