Electroconvulsive therapy-induced symptomatic hypocalcemia in a schizophrenic patient: A case report

We present a case study of a young schizophrenic 20-year-old female patient, admitted for severe psychotic exacerbation unresponsive to several antipsychotic regimens. She was treated successfully with a course of bilateral electroconvulsive therapy, but developed symptomatic hypocalcemia of short duration after the fifth ECT treatment. There is limited information regarding the phenomenon of ECT-induced acute hypocalcemia. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous reports of this finding in the literature. A similar phenomenon was reported many years ago in patients with primary affective illness. The possible mechanisms of this potentially life-threatening reaction are not clear and should be evaluated in further studies.