Journal article
Are morphological changes necessary to mediate the therapeutic effects of electroconvulsive therapy?
European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, Vol.266(3), pp.261-267
04/2016
DOI: 10.1007/s00406-015-0631-z
PMID: 26260901
Abstract
The neurotrophic hypothesis has become the favorite model to explain the antidepressant properties of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It is based on the assumption that a restoration of previously defective neural networks drives therapeutic effects. Recent data in rather young patients suggest that neurotrophic effects of ECT might be detectable by diffusion tensor imaging. We here aimed to investigate whether the therapeutic response to ECT necessarily goes along with mesoscopic effects in gray matter (GM) or white matter (WM) in our patients in advanced age. Patients (n = 21, 15 males and 7 females) suffering from major depressive disorder were treated with ECT. Before the start of treatment and after the completion of the index series, they underwent magnetic resonance imaging, including a diffusion-weighed sequence. We used voxel-based morphometry to assess GM changes and tract-based spatial statistics and an SPM-based whole-brain analysis to detect WM changes in the course of treatment. Patients significantly improved clinically during the course of ECT. This was, however, not accompanied by GM or WM changes. This result challenges the notion that mesoscopic brain structure changes are an obligatory prerequisite for the antidepressant effects of ECT.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Are morphological changes necessary to mediate the therapeutic effects of electroconvulsive therapy?
- Creators
- Thomas Nickl-Jockschat - Juelich Aachen Research Alliance - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany. tnickl-jockschat@ukaachen.deNicola Palomero Gallagher - Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Juelich Research Centre, Juelich, GermanyVinod Kumar - Juelich Aachen Research Alliance - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, GermanyFelix Hoffstaedter - Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Juelich Research Centre, Juelich, GermanyElisabeth Brügmann - Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse-30, 52074, Aachen, GermanyUte Habel - Juelich Aachen Research Alliance - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, GermanySimon B Eickhoff - Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, GermanyMichael Grözinger - Juelich Aachen Research Alliance - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, Vol.266(3), pp.261-267
- Publisher
- Germany
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00406-015-0631-z
- PMID
- 26260901
- ISSN
- 0940-1334
- eISSN
- 1433-8491
- Grant note
- name: JARA Seed Fund „Strukturelle und funktionelle MRI Verlaufsuntersuchungen bei depressiven Patienten während Elektrokrampftherapie“
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/2016
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Neuroscience and Pharmacology
- Record Identifier
- 9984070655202771
Metrics
20 Record Views