Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) after pulmonary edema.

We report a case of pulmonary edema after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in an 88-year-old man with controlled hypertension and treatment-refractory depression. Despite this unexpected episode of pulmonary edema, the patient was able to complete this course of ECT without further complications. Because the pulmonary edema was thought to be due to extremely elevated blood pressures, nitroglycerine and esmolol were used during subsequent treatments, and electrode placement was changed to bilateral to speed recovery.