To determine the outcome of patients who underwent ECT in a Brazilian General Hospital between 1993 and 2007.

Telephone contact with all patients (or their relatives) who were submitted to ECT during psychiatric hospitalization in HC-Unicamp-Brazil. Data were compiled for statistical analysis at SPSS.

There were 53 successful telephone contacts (33.9% of 153 patients who underwent ECT). Losses were due to changes of telephones/addresses. No refuses occurred. The mean time between the procedure and the contact was 55.4 months (3-170). Twenty patients (37.3%) and 37 relatives (69.8%) were interviewed. Most were women (60.4% n=32), 4 were inpatients by the occasion of the call and 4 died. The mean age was 42.9±19.4. The assessments of current mental state by patients were: excellent in 5-9.4% cases, good in 12-22.6%, poor in 2-3.8%. The evaluation by family members was: excellent in 11-20.8% cases, good in 11-20.8%, poor in 7-13.2% and very poor in 5-9.4%. In 42 cases (79.2%) the patient was still under psychiatric treatment (taking psychotropic medication in 39-73.6%). In 28 cases (54%) there was need for new admission in a psychiatric inpatient ward. In 38 cases (74%) the patient reported knowing that he/she had undergone ECT, and only in 5 cases (9.4%) there was a lasting side effect of treatment reported, which was change in memory.

Data of the evolution of patients corroborate the importance of treatment with ECT for severe mental disorders, and also shows the low rate of long-term complications related to the procedure.