A sensitive radioimmunoassay that can detect brain damage in cases of head injury and stroke was applied to blood samples from 13 patients before and after they received multiple treatments with electroconvulsive therapy for psychiatric disorder. None of the patients showed a significant increase in serum myelin basic protein immunoreactivity. As increased serum myelin basic protein immunoreact...

Caffeine-augmented electroconvulsive therapy has been introduced into medical practice without experimental confirmation that such seizure modification does not result in neuronal injury. In this report rats pretreated with caffeine prior to a series of nine electrically induced convulsions showed neuronal injury confined to hippocampal sectors and striatum. Electrically induced convulsions wit...

BACKGROUND The treatment of depressive phases of bipolar disorder is challenging. The effects of the commonly used antidepressants in bipolar depression are questionable. Electroconvulsive therapy is generally considered to be the most effective treatment even if there are no randomized controlled trials of electroconvulsive therapy in bipolar depression. The safety of electroconvulsive therapy...

INTRODUCTION Continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy has been shown to be effective for prevention of relapse in affective and psychotic disorders. However, there is a limited nubber of studies that investigate clinical management, associated costs, and perceived quality variables. MATERIAL AND METHODS A series of 8 cases included during the first 18 months of the Continuation/Main...