Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T12:11:34.958Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The use of Arfonad for the Alleviation of Cardio-Vascular Stress Following Electro-Convulsive Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

G. I. Tewfik
Affiliation:
Hill End Hospital, St. Albans
B. G. Wells
Affiliation:
Cardiological Department, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London

Extract

The safety of electro-convulsive therapy (E.C.T.) has been greatly increased since muscle relaxants were first introduced for this purpose. Short-acting relaxants such as suxamethonium and suxethonium reduce the usual strong tonic and clonic contractions to faint muscle twitchings, and fractures do not occur. Respiration can be maintained throughout by positive pressure inflation so that cyanosis and stertorous breathing are avoided. This may ensure that material from small pulmonary lesions is not disseminated to other areas. It is disappointing that the cardiovascular commotion is only slightly reduced, and deaths still occur, albeit rarely.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1957 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bankhead, A. J., Torrens, J. K., and Harris, T. H., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1950, 106, 911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, M. L., Huston, P., et al., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1953, 69, 601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, R., and Woods, A., Brit. Med. J., 1955, i, 1503.Google Scholar
Harris, T. A. B., Guy's Hospital Reports, 1954, 103, 317.Google Scholar
Evans, F. T., Gray, P. W. S., Lehmann, H., and Silk, E., Brit. Med. J., 1953, i, 136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem , Lancet, 1951, i, 129.Google Scholar
Hejtmancek, M., Bankhead, A., and Torrens, J. K., Amer. Ht. Jn., 1949, 37, 790.Google Scholar
Hobson, H., and Prescott, A., Brit. Med. J., 1947, i, 445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmberg, G., Thesloff, S., von Dardel, O., Hard, G., Ramquist, N., and Peterssen, H., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1954, 72, 73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmberg, G., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1953, 110, 115.Google Scholar
Impastato, D. J., and Almansi, R., New York J. Med., 1943, 43, 2057.Google Scholar
Kolb, L. C., and Vogel, V. H., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1942, 99, 90.Google Scholar
Lewis, W. H., Richardson, J., and Gahagan, L. H., New England Med. J., 1955, 252, 1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maclay, W. S., Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1952, 46, 13.Google Scholar
Montague, J. D., J. Ment. Sci., 1955, 101, 110.Google Scholar
Nowill, W. K., Wilson, W., and Borders, R., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1954, 71, 189.Google Scholar
Randall, L. O., Peterson, W. G., and Lehman, G., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therapeut., 1949, 97, 48.Google Scholar
Weil-Malherbe, G., J. Ment. Sci., 1955, 101, 156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodbury, R. A., and Hamilton, U. E., J. Pharmacol., 1941, 73, 1431.Google Scholar
Annotation, Brit. Med. J., 1956, i, 448.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.