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Autonomic function in depression: A modified methacholine test
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2018
Extract
In 1948, Funkenstein, Greenblatt and Solomon reported on a test of autonomic function which is clearly a combination of tests used by earlier workers (McWilliam, 1925; Sachs, 1936; Myerson et al., 1937; Gold, 1943; Altman, 1943). They reported a relationship between the changes in systolic blood pressure induced by injected adrenaline and methacholine and the clinical course, after electro-convulsive treatment in a group of psychiatric patients. This was followed by a considerable volume of work, published by Funkenstein and his colleagues, on the prognostic, diagnostic and other aspects of a test (the adrenaline-methacholine or Funkenstein test) which has aroused steadily increasing interest. The number of papers published has grown continually, and great variation exists in the techniques adopted and the scoring methods used. Some workers have confirmed the original findings whilst others have not. Thus the subsequent literature on the test has shown a pattern not unfamiliar in medicine; enthusiastic first publications followed by reports less satisfactory and more critical, and attempts to carry out a proper evaluation, producing many contradictory results.
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- Physiological
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- Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1962
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