Hemodynamic Status Among ECT Patients

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and practical treatment method for patients with severe, refractory or emergency psychiatric disorders. However, it is often associated with hemodynamic fluctuations. 

The purpose of this study was to investigate the pattern of hemodynamic changes in patients undergoing ECT.

This longitudinal study was conducted at Shafa hospital, a referral and academic center in Rasht, Iran, during 2020. Hemodynamic parameters including heart rate (HR) systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded before induction of anesthesia (T0), one minute after induction of anesthesia (T1), one minute after seizure (T2), and 15 minutes after wakefulness (T3). The trend of changes of these parameters was determined during the mentioned time intervals.

Finally, the data from total 126 patients were analyzed. Most of the cases were diagnosed with psychotic disorder of Schizophrenia (59.5%) and the least of them had Major depression (14.3%) and 15.9% of them suffered from comorbidities. In terms of SBP, DBP and MAP, the trend of changes was significant (P=0.0001) at four measurement point times, but not about HR (P= 0.74). However, all the changes in hemodynamic parameters were kept in the normal range.

Our study showed that despite the fluctuations in hemodynamic parameters during ECT, patient management was acceptable as a result of teamwork and apropriate interaction of psychiatric and anesthesia teams.