title: Comparison of Atropine with Glycopyrrolate for Use in ECT.
abstract: The occurrence of undesirable events during the postictal electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) period was retrospectively compared between 29 patients who had received glycopyrrolate premedication 0.002 mg/lb i.v. and 25 patients who had received atropine 1.0 mg i.m. A separate comparison was made for 14 patients who had received ECTs with each of these premedications. A total of 952 ECTs were reviewed. In both comparisons supraventricular tachycardia was more common with atropine (p <.0001 with each), after approximately 13% of ECTs. Otherwise, postictal events with the two agents were indistinguishable; specifically, bradycardia and nausea were not more frequent with glycopyrrolate.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, UHS/The Chicago Medical School, and North Chicago Veterans Administration Medical Center, North Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Conrad M.
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Swartz
authors.forename: Neeta C.
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Saheba