Publications by authors named "Richard Roemer"

The authors describe three elderly patients whose electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was characterized by protracted and unsatisfactory courses and frequent relapse. Sustained improvement resulted from the discontinuation of maintenance ECT and continuation of pharmacotherapy with combinations of lithium and carbamazepine or valproic acid. The patients are compared to a more typical patient with bipolar disorder who was successfully treated with long-term maintenance ECT.

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Caffeine is increasingly being used by ECT practitioners to augment seizure duration in selected patients. We note one report of adverse cardiovascular effects with this procedure. We report three cases of severe cardiac dysrhythmia, all appearing in the present of caffeine.

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Thirty-two outpatients with a mean age of 68 years were observed in a naturalistic study of outpatient electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the management of recurrent mood disorder. Sixty-nine percent of the patients responded favorably to ECT and were either discharged well from therapy or continue in treatment. A rehospitalization rate of 9% supports the efficacy of this treatment.

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To the numerous reports of the safety and efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in acute depressive episodes in patients with coexisting neurologic illness, the authors report their experience with two patients treated with maintenance ECT for more than 2 years. The authors find maintenance ECT useful in ameliorating the depressive illness without worsening the neurologic illness.

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