Cardiac safety of the electroconvulsive therapy-paliperidone combination: a preliminary study

Both electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and paliperidone (PLP) can induce, though infrequently, severe cardiac side-effects. Thus far, no studies are available on the cardiac safety of their co-administration. We report on the cardiac safety of the ECT-PLP combination in nine female inpatients who underwent this treatment modality. In a total of 83 ECT patient sessions, the ECT-PLP combination was well tolerated. No patient exhibited any noticeable prolongation of QTc interval and no adverse cardiac events, in particular arrhythmias, were noted.