Case report

USE OF ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: AN OVERVIEW

Gábor Gazdag orcid.org/0000-0002-6914-8041 ; Centre for Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Szent István and Szent László Hospitals, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
Jozef Dragasek ; 1st Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of P. J. Safarik, Košice, Slovak Republic
Margus Lõokene ; Department of Psychiatry, North Estonia Medical Centre, Tallinn, Estonia
Tomasz Sobow ; Department of Medical Psychology, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
Aleksey Olekseev ; Private Psychiatric Clinic, Odessa, Ukraine
Gabor S. Ungvari ; University of Notre Dame / Marian Centre, Wembley, WA, AustraliaSchool of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

Abstract

Though a number of reports on the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been published from the Central-Eastern
European region over the past two decades, a systematic review of this literature has not been published. Thus the aim of this paper
was to review recent trends in ECT practice in Central-Eastern Europe. Systematic literature search was undertaken using the
Medline, PSYCHINFO and EMBASE databases covering the period between January 2000 and December 2013. Relevant
publications were found from the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, but none from Albania and Moldova. ECT practice in the region shows a
heterogeneous picture in terms of utilization rate, main indications, and the technical parameters of application. On one end of the
spectrum is Slovakia where the majority of psychiatric facilities offer ECT, on the other end is Slovenia, where ECT is banned. In
about half of the countries schizophrenia is the main indication for ECT. In Ukraine, unmodified ECT is still in use. Clinical training
is generally lacking in the region and only 3 countries have a national ECT protocol. Possible ways of improving ECT practice in the
region are briefly discussed.

Keywords

ECT; Central-Eastern Europe; affective disorders; schizophrenia; training

Hrčak ID:

184733

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/184733

Publication date:

28.6.2017.

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