ECT

Electroconvulsive therapy is employed by psychiatrists for treatment resistant depression and can lead to dramatic improvements in these patients. From the anesthetic perspective, the ECT treatment is short and both the airway as well as the seizure need to be managed. Short-acting medications are preferable. Succinylcholine may lead to a feeling of muscle pain and Etomidate may lead to a feeling of burning in the IV. The medication selection can also be affected by the goals of the treatment (ie. needing longer seizure length, etc). These procedures are usually an outpatient procedure with a short post-procedure recovery time, therefore the anesthetic medications are chosen to be equally short acting to prevent unnecessary increased length of stay.