Classics in ECT: Potter and Rudorfer Editorial From 1993

 "Classics in ECT" brings you this editorial from the NEJM in 1993:

Electroconvulsive therapy--a modern medical procedure.

Potter WZ, Rudorfer MV.N Engl J Med. 1993 Mar 25;328(12):882-3. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199303253281213.PMID: 8441434 

The pdf is here.
This editorial in the NEJM accompanied the Sackeim electrode placement study that appeared in this issue and was a follow up to the Crowe review of a decade earlier. This was before the CORE studies, but was a harbinger of the next wave of ECT clinical trial data. Labeling ECT a "modern medical procedure" in the NEJM was a particularly helpful strategy. Bill Potter is an eminent psychopharmacologist with NIMH and industry backgrounds; Matt Rudorfer has been the NIMH ECT point person/expert for decades and a major supporter and collaborator in ECT research, including the CORE studies. Their classic editorial deserves a full read, ~10 minutes.


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