Suitability of Inhalation Anesthesia for Electroconvulsive Therapy Patients

Abstract

Currently, electroconvulsive therapy is applied as a treatment for psychiatric patients, where anesthesia personnel play a crucial role in helping patients manage anxiety, pain, and discomfort during the procedure. Patients are placed under general anesthesia to ensure they are cooperative, peaceful, and unconscious, while doctors and nurses carefully monitor their vital signs to minimize the risk of adverse events or complications such as fractures, organ damage, or aspiration pneumonitis. However, inappropriate anesthesia techniques can lead to side effects such as headaches, muscle stiffness, arrhythmias, confusion, anterograde and retrograde amnesia, which may impact subsequent management. This article delves an alternative technique to intravenous administration of anesthetics is anesthesia with inhalational volatile agents, which is increasingly being used to sedate patients for short periods of time. This technique is suitable for patients who are restless, stressed, fearful of venipuncture, or unwilling to have a vein accessed for fluid administration. Additionally, it allows anesthetists to easily adjust the depth of anesthesia and promotes faster recovery with minimal impact on the circulatory and respiratory systems. As a result, this approach encourages collaboration among multidisciplinary teams in providing safe and effective patient care to achieve treatment goals.