title: The safety of the electroconvulsive therapy-escitalopram combination.
abstract: It has been suggested that the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of major depressive episodes may be enhanced by concurrent administration of antidepressant medication. Therefore, the issue of how safe the combination of these 2 treatment modalities is warrants investigation. Escitalopram (ESC) is a novel selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that seems to have a favorable side effect profile. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on the safety of the ECT-ESC combination. We report the cases of 3 female inpatients with major depressive episode--two in the context of major depressive disorder and one in the context of bipolar disorder I--who underwent ECT while concurrently receiving ESC (20 mg/d) as part of their regimen. In all cases, the combination was well tolerated, and only minimal side effects were reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece. vmasdrakis@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Vasilios G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Masdrakis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oulis
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Florakis
authors.forename: Theodoros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Valamoutopoulos
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Markatou
authors.forename: George N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015283:Citalopram / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015283:Citalopram; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors