Initial Impression of Two New Brief-Pulse Electroconvulsive Therapy Machines

Until last year only two U.S. manufacturers were producing ECT machines for purchase. These machines differed in waveforms: a sine-wave device (Medcraft Corp.) and a brief-pulse bidirectional square-wave machine (MECTA Corp.). Early in 1985 a new brief-pulse bidirectional square-wave machine called the Thymatron was marketed (Somatics Inc.). For the first time this created a choice in brief-pulse equipment available in the U.S. This paper summarizes our initial impressions to this new brief-pulse device and one of MECTA's most recent brief-pulse models (SR-1) in terms of features, safety, practicality, and cost.