Electroconvulsive therapy in one child and three adolescents.

Four patients aged 12 to 15 years who received ECT are reported. Despite the presentation of signs and symptoms consistent with positive response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in adults, only one of the four patients responded favorably, and three patients had seizures lasting longer than 4 minutes. The patient who did respond to ECT did not experience a prolonged seizure, and he was also the only prepubescent patient. The authors present a tentative hypothesis that correlates youth with prolonged seizures and refractoriness to ECT.