Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective To investigate the effects and side effects of different frequency of modified electroconvulsive therapy(modified eleetroconvulsive therapy，MECT)on treatment-refractive schizophrenia(treatmentrefractive schizophrenia，TRS)．Methods 80 cases were randomly divided into 2 groups(experimental group，n=40；control group，n=40)．The experimental group received once a week of MECT.Control group was coped with twice a week of MECT. Changes in effective rate，score of positive and negative syndrome scale(positive and negative syndrome scale，PANSS)and treatment emergent symptoms scale(treatment emergent symptoms scale，TESS)， was then measured after the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 12th weeks of treatment.Results The total scores of PANSS in the two groups were lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05); the PANSS scores in the control group were lower than those in the study group at the 2nd and 4th weekends of treatment (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between the two groups at the 12th weekend of treatment (P > 0.05); at the 12th weekend of treatment, the effective rate of the study group was 76.67%, and that of the control group was 73.33%. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). No difference was found in the incidence of side effects between the two groups (P > 0.05).Conclusion The efficacy and adverse reactions of twice a week of MECT for patients with refractory schizophrenia were not better than those of once a week of MECT after the 12th weeks of treatment, suggesting MECT is an effective and safe way for coping with TRS. Its mechanism should be further investigated.

Treatment-refractive schizophrenia(TRS)；Modified electroconvulsive therapy