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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a routine treatment for multiple psychiatric disorders including treatment-refractory mood and psychotic disorders. Although ECT is generally a safe and well-tolerated intervention, rare cerebrovascular and cardiovascular complications have been reported. The hemodynamic changes during the ECT seizure are well-recognized, with an initial parasympathetically mediated decrease in heart rate and blood pressure followed by a sympathetically mediated increase in these parameters. Despite intraoperative or postoperative blood pressure fluctuations, the risk of a hypertensive intracerebral bleed during ECT is very low and the risk of ischemic stroke after ECT appears to be even rarer. The authors present a case of a patient who developed an ischemic stroke after ECT treatment. Before stroke, the patient had been undergoing ECT routinely for over 2 years without alarming complications. Ischemic strokes are a rare but serious complication of ECT treatment.

Alcohol intoxication is a major predisposing factor for trauma in general and head injury in particular. The management of the head-injured patient is highly contingent on the accurate assessment of this patient’s consciousness, which is invariably impaired if the patient is intoxicated. This complicates the decision-making process and impedes the promptness needed in management when the head injury is severe. Furthermore, the prognosis of the head injury can depend on the patient’s degree and pattern of intoxication. This article presents some of the latest epidemiological data about the association of alcohol and head injury. It also highlights some of the challenges posed by alcohol intoxication in the management of head-injured patients, and examines the importance of documenting intoxication in head-injured patients.

To assess the depressant effects of alcohol on the level of consciousness of patients admitted with head injuries, this study examined the changes that occur in the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of traumatic brain injury patients over time.The records of 269 head trauma patients consecutively admitted to the neurosurgery intensive care unit were examined retrospectively. Eighty-one patients were excluded because of incomplete data. The remaining 188 patients were further divided into an intoxicated group (blood alcohol concentration [BAC] ≥ 0.08%, n = 100 [53%]) and a nonintoxicated group (BAC0.08%, n = 88 [47%]). The GCS in the prehospital setting, in the emergency department, and the highest GCS achieved during the first 24 hours postinjury were compared.The change between emergency department-GCS and the best day 1 GCS in the intoxicated group was greater than the nonintoxicated group and deemed clinically and statistically significant; median change (3 vs. 0) p0.001. To assess whether these results were directly related to the BAC%, piecewise regression using a general linear model was used to assess the intercept and slope of alcohol on the changes of GCS with cutting point at BAC% = 0.08. The analysis showed that, in the nonintoxicated range, the effect of alcohol was not significantly related to the changes of GCS. But in the intoxicated range, BAC% was significantly positively related to the changes of GCS.This study concludes that the GCS increases significantly over time in alcohol intoxicated patients with traumatic brain injury.

Importance There is limited information about the effect of erythropoietin or a high hemoglobin transfusion threshold after a traumatic brain injury. Objective To compare the effects of erythropoietin and 2 hemoglobin transfusion thresholds (7 and 10 g/dL) on neurological recovery after traumatic brain injury. Design, Setting, and Participants Randomized clinical trial of 200 patients (erythropoietin, n = 102; placebo, n = 98) with closed head injury who were unable to follow commands and were enrolled within 6 hours of injury at neurosurgical intensive care units in 2 US level I trauma centers between May 2006 and August 2012. The study used a factorial design to test whether erythropoietin would fail to improve favorable outcomes by 20% and whether a hemoglobin transfusion threshold of greater than 10 g/dL would increase favorable outcomes without increasing complications. Erythropoietin or placebo was initially dosed daily for 3 days and then weekly for 2 more weeks (n = 74) and then the 24- and 48-hour doses were stopped for the remainder of the patients (n = 126). There were 99 patients assigned to a hemoglobin transfusion threshold of 7 g/dL and 101 patients assigned to 10 g/dL. Interventions Intravenous erythropoietin (500 IU/kg per dose) or saline. Transfusion threshold maintained with packed red blood cells. Main Outcomes and Measures Glasgow Outcome Scale score dichotomized as favorable (good recovery and moderate disability) or unfavorable (severe disability, vegetative, or dead) at 6 months postinjury. Results There was no interaction between erythropoietin and hemoglobin transfusion threshold. Compared with placebo (favorable outcome rate: 34/89 [38.2%; 95% CI, 28.1% to 49.1%]), both erythropoietin groups were futile (first dosing regimen: 17/35 [48.6%; 95% CI, 31.4% to 66.0%], P = .13; second dosing regimen: 17/57 [29.8%; 95% CI, 18.4% to 43.4%], P P = .28). There was a higher incidence of thromboembolic events for the transfusion threshold of 10 g/dL (22/101 [21.8%] vs 8/99 [8.1%] for the threshold of 7 g/dL, odds ratio, 0.32 [95% CI, 0.12 to 0.79], P = .009). Conclusions and Relevance In patients with closed head injury, neither the administration of erythropoietin nor maintaining hemoglobin concentration of greater than 10 g/dL resulted in improved neurological outcome at 6 months. The transfusion threshold of 10 g/dL was associated with a higher incidence of adverse events. These findings do not support either approach in this setting. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00313716