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Electroconvulsive therapy with S-ketamine anesthesia for catatonia in coexisting depression and dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2017

Zsuzsa Litvan*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Martin Bauer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Siegfried Kasper
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Richard Frey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Zsuzsa Litvan, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18–20 A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Phone: +431/40400-35470. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Information on efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy in patients with dementia is sparse. The current case report describes a patient suffering from severe depression and dementia who received electroconvulsive therapy with S-ketamine anesthesia at our psychiatric intensive care unit for the treatment of her therapy-resistant catatonic stupor. The patient's condition improved remarkably through the treatment. By the end of 16 electroconvulsive therapy sessions, her catatonic symptoms remitted entirely, her affect was brighter and she performed markedly better at the cognitive testing.

Type
Case Report
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2017 

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