Anesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) usually involves the intravenous (IV) administration of drugs such as methohexital, thiopental, propofol, etomidate, or ketamine. Sevoflurane is an inhalational anesthetic agent that has been available past 3 decades. Although many studies have examined sevoflurane in context ECT, treatment guidelines make either no mention only passing its potenti...

How can it be determined whether a patient has consented to electroconvulsive therapy? Under what circumstances should therapy be given against a patient's will? Peter MacDonald addresses these questions from a medical, ethical and legal perspective. This article is available in Osgoode Hall Law Journal: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol22/iss4/3 MEDICAL, ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONSIDE...

Background The burden of major depressive disorder includes suffering due to symptom severity, functional impairment, and quality of life deficits. The aim of this study was to compare the differences between electroconvulsive therapy and pharmacotherapy in reducing such burdens. Methods This was a pooled analysis study including 2 open-label trials for major depressive disorder inpatients re...

Background and Objective: Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is one of the effective methods for treatment of depression. Regarding the stimulatory effect of glutaminergic system on the progression of depression, the effect of ketamine as one of the most important inhibitors of this system has been investigated on the effectiveness of ECT. ...