TY - JOUR AU - Raja, Waseem AU - Liaqat, Jahanzeb AU - Javed, Muhammad Umar AU - Naseem, Arshad AU - Wali, Waseem PY - 2018/10/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NEUROLEPTIC MALIGNANT SYNDROME (NMS) IN ADULTS: Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome JF - Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal JA - PAFMJ VL - 68 IS - 3 SE - Original Articles DO - UR - https://pafmj.org/PAFMJ/article/view/214 SP - 445-49 AB - <p><strong>Objective:</strong>&nbsp;To determine the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the management of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) in adults.<br><strong>Study Design:&nbsp;</strong>Open label, unblinded series.<br><strong>Place and Duration of Study:</strong>&nbsp;This study was carried out at the Department of Neurology, Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from Jan 2015 to Dec 2015.<br><strong>Material and Methods:</strong>&nbsp;All the patients with the diagnosis of NMS during the study period were included in the study. Consective non-probability sampling technique was used. Patients were divided into two groups; uncomplicated and complicated cases of NMS.<br><strong>Results:</strong>&nbsp;A total of nineteen patients were included in this pilot study. Out of all, thirteen (68.4%) were males and six (31.6%) were females. Mean age of the patients was 35.05 (SD 13.362) years. The drug classes causing NMS were antipsychotic medicines in 73.7% of patients and antiemetics in 26.3% of patients. Mean electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) sessions given were 6.16 (SD 2.062). Following treatment n=16 (84.2%) patients had complete recovery while n=3 (15.3%) patients died.<br><strong>Conclusion:</strong>&nbsp;In this small, open label, unblinded study ECT appears effective and safe in treating NMS in adults. Larger randomized studies will help to confirm data emerging from this preliminary study.</p> ER -