title: Atropine and Cognitive Performance After Electroconvulsive Therapy.
abstract: Two groups of patients receiving bilateral, moderately suprathreshold electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were compared in their cognitive functions after receiving either 0.5 mg atropine i.v. or no atropine before ECT. The patients were tested for cognitive functions after four treatments using various measures, including orientation; retrograde (verbal and visuospatial) memory for information acquired about 15 minutes pretreatment and tested for about 1 hour posttreatment; anterograde (verbal and visuospatial) memory for information acquired about 1 hour, 30 minutes posttreatment and tested for both immediately after learning and 20 minutes later; and retrieval from semantic memory as assessed by word fluency. We found no effect of 0.5 mg atropine on cognitive performance, even though anticholinergic drugs that cross the blood brain barrier might be expected to affect cognition after ECT.
authors.affiliation: The Herzog Hospital, Ezrath-Nashim, Jerusalem; The Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Avraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calev
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Drexler
authors.forename: Nurith
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tubi
authors.forename: Doron
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nigal
authors.forename: Baruch
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.forename: Sol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kugelmass
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lerer