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Unilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy: How to Determine Which Hemisphere is Dominant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Elizabeth A. Clyma*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Whiteley Wood Clinic, Woofindin Road, Sheffield, S10 3TL

Extract

One of the problems with the administration of unilateral ECT is to select the correct side for giving the treatment. If it is given routinely to the right side of the head, a proportion of patients will receive ECT to the dominant hemisphere, which is more unpleasant for the patient and more disruptive of memory than even bilateral ECT (Halliday et al., 1968; Fleminger, Horne and Nott, 1970).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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