Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Health System is adding a $3.6 million mental health treatment unit for electroconvulsive therapy, according to the Detroit Free Press.
ECT, the electrical stimulation of the brain delivered under sedation, is used to treat severe forms of depression and other illnesses, such as bipolar-associated mania; psychosis in psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia; and those in catatonic states due to mood disorder or other psychosis-causing conditions, according to the report.
"For those who have exhausted other treatment options, and for their families, we're proud to open this enhanced, expanded facility," said Daniel Maixner, an associate professor of psychiatry at the university's medical school and director of the ECT program, according to the report.
The expansion project converted 9,500 square feet of unused operating rooms at University Hospital South into a suite for the treatment. The new unit will have the capacity to provide three to four ECT treatments per hour, a 50 percent increase from its current capacity.