Lung Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Major depression and the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in lung transplant recipients.

Jayaram G, Casimir A

The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, 600 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

The purpose of this study is to describe the potential risks and benefits of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for treatment of depression in lung transplant recipients. The authors performed a record review of depressed patients who underwent lung transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital and evaluated their treatment, including ECT. In 9 years, 131 lung transplants were performed, and four patients had been diagnosed with major depression. Of those, two were candidates for ECT, and one received it. This patient's depression did abate with ECT. ECT, an effective treatment for depression, remains a treatment method of choice for depression in the posttransplant population.

Published 10 May 2005 in Psychosomatics, 46(3): 244-9.
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