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Table 2 Electroconvulsive therapy use in adolescents: main findings

From: Electroconvulsive therapy use in adolescents: a systematic review

Authors

Publication year

Journal

Main findings

Indications for ECT use in adolescents

Wachtel et al. [6]

2011

Medical Hypotheses

The use of ECT in children and adolescents is appropriate for specific clinical indications and urge removal of impediments to ECT access in this population

Baeza et al. [7]

2010

Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology

ECT is a safe and effective treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders in adolescent patients

Consoli et al. [14]

2010

Journal of ECT

Electroconvulsive therapy is the effective treatment for catatonia after high-dose benzodiazepine trials in youths

Hazell [1]

2009

Clinical Evidence

Electroconvulsive therapy is indicated for a severely obtunded child or adolescent with depression who may, for example, have prolonged psychotic symptoms, and fails to hydrate or maintain caloric intake

Baghai and Moller [16]

2008

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience

The safety and tolerability of ECT have been enhanced by the use of modified stimulation techniques and by the progress of modern anesthesia, representing a safe treatment that can be offered to all patients, especially after medication failure

Stein et al. [24]

2006

Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America

ECT is an effective therapy for severe and resistant depression, with relatively minimal adverse effects

Ghaziuddin et al. [27]

2004

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Eligible adolescents for ECT must meet three criteria: diagnosis (severe, persistent major depression or mania, with or without psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, and others), severity of symptoms, and lack of treatment response

Electroconvulsive therapy: treatment parameters

Shoirah and Hamoda [13]

2011

Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics

Although bilateral electrode placement may be more effective than unilateral placement for manic patients, unilateral electrode placement has been found to have equivalent results for other indications

Baeza et al. [7]

2010

Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology

The mean duration of electroencephalogram seizures was 43.9 ± 16.9 s (range, 20 to 93), with significant differences between males and females

Antunes et al. [15]

2009

Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria

Studies show that high-dose unilateral ECT (UL-ECT) has an equivalent efficacy to bifrontotemporal ECT; however, low-dose UL-ECT has lower efficacy

Efficiency of ECT, associations with other therapies and comparison between techniques

Garg et al. [12]

2011

Indian Journal of Medical Research

Patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia treated with ECT had an improvement in quality of life. All aspects of quality of life got better, except the social relations

Lévy-Rueff et al. [18]

2008

Psychiatry Research

Part of a clinical cohort was composed by adolescents. Maintenance ECT in association with pharmacological treatment presented good outcomes for refractory schizophrenia

Bloch et al. [29]

2001

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

ECT was equally effective in adolescents and adults (58% of remission), but most of adolescents presented psychotic syndromes, instead of affective disorders in adults

Strober et al. [10]

1998

Biological Psychiatry

Adolescents aged 13 to 17 years with bipolar depression or major depressive disorder presented 60% of total and 40% of partial remission in a month follow-up

Kutcher and Robertson [34]

1995

Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology

Patients who accepted ECT improved significantly compared to those who refused. The mean duration of hospital stay was reduced from 176 to 73.8 days

Schneekloth et al. [37]

1993

Convulsive Therapy

Retrospective study with a 65% response rate among adolescents between 13 and 18 years old

Paillère-Martinot et al. [39]

1990

Encephale

Patients aged 15 to 19 years with different diagnoses achieved 88% of response rate after typical ECT application

Side effects, risks, and complications of ECT for adolescents

Feliu et al. [17]

2008

Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment

Relatively immediate and significant decreases in multiple areas of memory following ECT, compared with pre-ECT levels of functioning, including verbal memory for word lists, prose passages, and visual memory of geometric designs

Datka et al. [21]

2007

Klinika Psychiatrii CM UJ.

One day after first ECT, patient's working memory was slightly impaired. ECT treatment affects working memory function only temporally

Prakash et al. [22]

2006

Journal of ECT

ECT presents cognitive side effects especially in recent memory. The post-ECT recovery of various components of cognition was more rapid in patients using donepezil and compared with placebo

Cohen et al. [31]

2000

The American Journal of Psychiatry

After a 3.5-year follow-up, patients who received ECT presented similar memory functions to those of psychiatric controls. Poorer cognitive performance is related with greater psychopathology, not with the treatment

Ghazziudin et al. [32]

1999

Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology

Comparison with pre-ECT and post-ECT tests resulted in significant impairments of concentration and attention, verbal and visual delayed recall, and verbal fluency. Second stage of post-ECT tests (mean, 8.5 months after ECT) showed complete recovery and return to pre-ECT functioning