Facilitating electroconvulsive therapy seizure induction: Lower pulse frequency or longer stimulus duration?

Thirthalli et al. [1] reported a case series of 10 patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), all of whom had failed to experience an adequate seizure at an electrical charge of 540 mC. These patients were restimulated with pulse frequency reduced from 125 pulses per second (pps) to 50 pps; other stimulus parameters (pulse amplitude and pulse width) were kept unchanged. With this strategy, adequate seizures were induced in 62 of 67 ECT sessions. The authors [1] suggested that reduction of pulse frequency may help reduce seizure threshold and facilitate seizure induction.

Source: BRAIN STIMULATION: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation - October 5, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Chittaranjan Andrade Source Type: research