The death rate from ECT used to be quoted as 1 for every 1,000 patients, but with smaller amounts of electric current used in modern treatments, accompanied by more safety techniques, this has been reduced to as little as 4.5 in 100,000 patients. Patients are treated with short-acting anaesthetics, muscle relaxants and breathe pure oxygen. However, despite the fall in death rates, there are still side effects to the treatment. The most common are headache, stiffness, confusion and temporary memory loss on awaking from the treatment - some of these can be reduced by placing electrodes only on one side of the head. Memory loss can be permanent in a few cases, and the spasms associated with the seizure can cause fractured vertebrae and tooth damage.
Patients can also experience numbness in the fingers and toes.
A common argument against ECT is that it destroys brain cells, with experiments conducted on animals in the 1940s often cited as evidence. However, modern studies have yet to reproduce these findings in the human brain. Women were more likely to receive the treatment than men, but the auditors said this was because they were twice as likely to suffer from depression. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Medical notes stories are at the foot of the page.