Hematuria with electroconvulsive therapy: a case report

Steven Blevins1, Graham Greene

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Sblevins@UAMS.edu

The Journal of ECT
|March 3, 2009
PubMed

We report a case of hematuria developing during the administration of electroconvulsive therapy. The patient had preexisting hypertension and was on anticoagulant therapy. Diagnostic evaluation revealed the source of bleeding to be the right kidney. The bleeding was transient and not life threatening. Other than acute renal insufficiency that resolved, there did not appear to be any permanent loss of organ function or health related to this event. Although the cause of the bleeding in this patient is unknown, it is suspected that a vascular anomaly, in conjunction with hypertension and anticoagulation, led to gross hematuria. It appears that hematuria has not previously been reported with electroconvulsive therapy and would be considered a very rare complication.