Etomidate in electroconvulsive therapy.

Comparison of methohexital and etomidate as anesthetic agents for electroconvulsive therapy in affective and psychotic disorders.

BACKGROUND ECT is a well-established treatment for severe depression. The available data on psychosis are limited, but reliable. Its therapeutic potential relies on the induction of a generalized seizure. Besides other narcotics, methohexital and etomidate are used for general anesthesia in ECT. Since prolonged seizures have been reported following the use of etomidate, it can be deduced that t...

A within-subject comparison of seizure duration with etomidate and methohexital in electroconvulsive therapy

Objective: To determine whether etomidate is associated with longer seizures than methohexital in ECT anesthesia. Methods: Retrospective chart review in 39 patients who were switched from one anesthetic to the other. We compared motor and EEG seizure duration in the last ECT session on one anesthetic and the first session on the other anesthetic. Results: Motor seizures were about 10 seconds lo...

Electroconvulsive Therapy

A comparative Study of Hemodynamic Effects, Recovery Pattern and Seizure Activity of Propofol, Ketofol and Etomidate in Modified Electroconvulsive Therapy

Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a widely used and safe evidence based intervention in modern psychiatry as a treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders. The choice of anesthetic agent may influence recovery pattern, hemodynamic effects, seizure activity, cognitive functions and cost-effectiveness of the procedure. There is relative paucity of literature in this regard. Gi...

Atropine Premedication in Electroconvulsive Therapy

Atropine has been used in ECT to eliminate parasympathetically mediated dysrhythmias. However, it may increase heart rate and myocardial workload. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of atropine premedication on the heart rate and blood pressure. Study was performed in 80 patients referred for a course of ECT. They enrolled randomly in one of the two equal groups to receive atro...