Psychiatric Quarterly
Volume 15, Number 3, 537-543, DOI: 10.1007/BF01562144

A study of the use of curare in metrazol convulsant therapy with some elctroencephalographic observations

Meyer M. Harris, Bernard L. Pacella and William A. Horwitz

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Abstract

1.  A group of 11 mental cases were treated with curare and metrazol convulsant therapy.
2.  A total of 100 combined treatments was given; and no fractures or dislocations occurred in any of the cases. All spines were checked by X-ray before and after treatment.
3.  The small number of treatments required to produce some degree of clinical improvement would seem to indicate that curare probably does not interfere with the therapeutic effect of convulsant therapy.
4.  The effects of the special curare preparation on respiration and blood pressure are reported.
5.  The administration of curare alone in doses sufficient to produce adequate paralysis of the skeletal musculature produced no notable changes in the electroencephalograms.
6.  The electroencephalographic changes following metrazol convulsant therapy modified by curare were similar to the changes produced by unmodified convulsant therapy.

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