The natural history of acute organic mental syndrome after bilateral electroconvulsive therapy.

Thirty-one patients undergoing bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were .,;i followed prospectively for the development of acute organic mental syndrome (A OMS); 15 patients (48.4%) developed AOMS during ECT. For these 15 pa­ tients, the average number of ECTs before development of A OMS was 5.5 with average duration ofA OMS being 20.1 days. Comparison of these 15 patients to the 16 patients Who did not develop A OMS for diagnoses, demographic data, preHCT laboratory data, and medications, differed only in exposure to psychoactive medications and prior presence ofmajor medical illness.