ECT in the treatment of status epilepticus

Owing to its potent anticonvulsant actions, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been proposed as an intervention for treatment-resistant seizure disor ders. Method: We review the literature on the use of ECT in treatment-resis tant epilepsy and status epilepticus (SE) and present a case of a patient w ho was in nonconvulsive SE for 26 days and then treated with ECT after all standard pharmacological strategies were exhausted. Because of skull defect s, a novel electrode placement was used. Results: Owing to massively elevat ed seizure threshold attributable to concomitant anticonvulsant medications , extraordinarily high electrical dosage was needed for ECT to elicit gener alized seizures. Status was terminated after three successful ECT-induced s eizures. However, the long-term functional outcome of the patient was poor. Discussion: The role of ECT in the treatment algorithm for SE is discussed .