Caffeine jolt for ECT.Caffeine caffeine (kăfēn`), odorless, slightly bitter alkaloid found in coffee, tea, kola nuts (see cola), ilex plants (the source of the Latin American drink maté), and, in small amounts, in cocoa (see cacao). jolt for ECT ECT electroconvulsive therapy. ECT abbr. electroconvulsive therapy ECT Electroconvulsive therapy sometimes is used to treat depression or mania when pharmaceutical treatment fails. While the debate continues over whether or not electroconvulsivetherapy (ECT), or shock therapy, should be used in the treatment of severe depression, those psychiatrists who do use the technique have encountered a frequent problem: As the course of ECT progresses, some patients seem to become more tolerant of the shock, and the length of their seizures decreases. Theoretically, this would weaken any "therapeutic effect' derived from ECT. If the electric charge were strengthened to combat thisproblem, it would carry with it some obvious, inherent dangers, says C. Edward Coffey, a psychiatrist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Coffey's answer? Caffeine. In a study with 20 patients hospitalized due to severe, or"major,' depression, Coffey reports that pre-ECT injection with 250 to 750 milligrams of caffeine resulted in an average increase of seizure duration of 127 percent. He found that higher doses of caffeine resulted in longer seizures. Although "there were no associated adverse effects or prolonged pro·long tr.v. pro·longed, pro·long·ing, pro·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. post-ECT disorientation disorientation /dis·or·i·en·ta·tion/ (-or?e-en-ta´shun) the loss of proper bearings, or a state of mental confusion as to time, place, or identity. ,' says Coffey, three patients did suffer from temporarily heightened anxiety. Based on these and similar results in a double-blind study double-blind study, n experimental technique in clinical research in which neither the researcher nor the patient knows whether the treatment administered is considered inactive (placebo) or active (medicinal). ,Coffey concludes that "caffeine injections may be a potentially safe and highly effective technique to augment ECT.' |
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