Posted by ed_uk on July 8, 2005, at 14:21:20
In reply to Re:To SLS, posted by SLS on July 8, 2005, at 13:57:42
Hi Scott,
>The claim was that it was somewhat less effective compared to bilateral (bitemporal) and somewhere in between to unilateral with respect to side effects........
I remember reading that!
I also read this............
Psychol Med. 1993 May;23(2):349-60.
Therapeutic advantage of bifrontal electrode placement in ECT.
Letemendia FJ, Delva NJ, Rodenburg M, Lawson JS, Inglis J, Waldron JJ, Lywood DW.
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Fifty-nine patients suffering from a major depressive episode, for whom electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was clinically indicated, were randomly assigned to one of three electrode placement groups for treatment with brief pulse, threshold-level ECT: bitemporal (BT), right unilateral (RU) or bifrontal (BF). Comparison of these groups in terms of number of treatments, duration of treatment, or incidence of treatment failure, showed that the bilateral placements were superior to the unilateral; comparison of Hamilton, Montgomery-Asberg, and visual analogue scale scores showed that the bifrontal placement was superior to both bitemporal and unilateral treatment. Bitemporal treatment showed therapeutic results intermediate between BF and RU. Because BF ECT causes fewer cognitive side effects than either RU or BT, and is independently more effective, it should be considered as the first choice of electrode position in ECT.
What do you think? I think it's important to note that the ECT was 'threshold-level'.
~Ed
poster:ed_uk
thread:524544
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050708/msgs/524988.html