Cerebral Oxygen Saturation During Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Crossover Trial.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causes acute changes in cerebral perfusion and oxygenation. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a novel, noninvasive technique to assess cerebral oxygen saturation (cSO2). We hypothesized that cSO2 increases during ECT and more so with atropine premedication and decreases when systemic desaturation (peripheral oxygen saturation <90%) occurs during ECT.