Anaesthesia in electroconvulsive therapy. Special conditions.

Objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the main techniques available for the treatment of such serious mental illnesses as schizophrenia and drug-resistant depression. The pre-anaesthetic assessment appropriate for patients with various mental disorders or pathologies does not differ substantially from that of any patient prior to undergoing anaesthesia for a surgical procedure. The present review aims to propose guidelines to achieve a higher level of safety and effectiveness during ECT in the most frequent situations, in accordance with the current literature.

Pattern of use of clozapine in Spain. Variability and under-prescription.

Introduction: International studies on clozapine use usually show lower than expected prescription proportions, under-dosing and delayed initiation of treatment, which has led to a number of initiatives aimed at improving its use and reducing the striking variability observed among practitioners. There are no similar studies on the Spanish population. Therefore we planned initial data collection from 4 territorial samples.

A descriptive retrospective study of the treatment and outpatient service use in a clinical group of delusional disorder patients.

Introduction: Gender differences in attendance rates for appointments in delusional disorder have been poorly studied. Furthermore, delusional disorder is traditionally considered a treatment-resistant disorder.

Material And Methods: We conducted a longitudinal retrospective study with a one-year follow-up, including 78 delusional disorder patients (DSM-IV-TR), consecutively admitted over a period of 10 years.

Delphi consensus on the physical health of patients with schizophrenia: evaluation of the recommendations of the Spanish Societies of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry by a panel of experts.

Introduction: Available data from scientific literature show that patients with schizophrenia have higher rates of physical comorbidity and excess mortality due to other physical pathologies. The growing interest to investigate and improve the health of these patients has led a group of Spanish experts to publish in 2008 a "Consensus on physical health of patients with schizophrenia from the Spanish Societies of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry" (2008 Consensus). These recommendations imply a significant change to the present model of medical attention.