Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2017

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Geriatric Mental Health

Volume

4

Issue

2

First Page

115

Last Page

122

DOI of Original Publication

10.4103/jgmh.jgmh_9_17

Comments

Originally published at http://www.jgmh.org/text.asp?2017/4/2/115/221910

Date of Submission

February 2018

Abstract

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective therapeutic intervention in the elderly patients with major depression, especially those with psychosis, suicidality, catatonia, nutritional compromise, and resistance to medications. Response rates can be as high as 80%. We present an extensive review of the relevant literature, provide a description of the ECT program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, USA, and present results of our experience with ECT in fifty elderly patients. The treatments were safe, well tolerated, and produced high response rates, variably between 68% and 84%. Patients in the long‑term maintenance ECT program continue to show sustained benefits from ECT.

Rights

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Is Part Of

VCU Psychiatry Publications

Share

COinS