Stability of neuropsychological testing during two years of maintenance electroconvulsive therapy in an autistic man.

摘要

We report the stability of neuropsychological testing in a 21 year-old autistic man receiving maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (M-ECT) twice weekly since age 19 for major depressive disorder with catatonic features complicated by severe self-injury and multiple suicide attempts. Neuropsychological testing performed two months after the acute ECT course, and repeated annually for two years indicated stability in full-scale IQ. and other subset scores. Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales remained stable as well. This is the first report of longitudinal cognitive and functional stability in M-ECT in autism, and adds to the literature of M-ECT safety in all patient populations.