This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

C. Edward Coffey, MD; Richard D. Weiner, MD, PhD; William T. Djang, MD; Gary S. Figiel, MD; Sheryl A. R. Soady, RN; Linda J. Patterson; Peter D. Holt, MD; Charles E. Spritzer, MD; William E. Wilkinson, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1991;48(11):1013-1021.

Abstract
• To determine prospectively whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) produces structural brain changes, 35 inpatients with depression underwent magnetic resonance imaging before and twice after (at 2 to 3 days and at 6 months) completion of a course of brief-pulse, bilateral ECT. The magnetic resonance images were analyzed blindly for evidence of changes in brain structure using two approaches: measurement of regional brain volumes and a pairwise global comparison. Structural brain abnormalities were present in many patients before ECT. The course of ECT produced no acute or delayed (6-month) change in brain structure as measured by alterations of the total volumes of the lateral ventricles, the third ventricle, the frontal lobes, the temporal lobes, or the amygdala-hippocampal complex. In five subjects, the pairwise global comparisons revealed an apparent increase in subcortical hyperintensity, most likely secondary to progression of ongoing cerebrovascular disease during follow-up. Our results confirm and extend previous imaging studies that also found no relationship between ECT and brain damage.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Psychiatry (Drs Coffey, Weiner, Figiel, and Holt and Mss Soady and Patterson), Medicine (Neurology) (Dr Coffey), Radiology (Drs Djang and Spritzer), and Community and Family Medicine (Biometry) (Dr Wilkinson), Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, and the Durham Veterans Affairs Hospital (Dr Weiner).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication February 7, 1991.

Presented in part at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Calif, May 10, 1989.

Reprint requests to Allegheny Neuropsychiatric Institute, 7777 Steubenville Pike, Oakdale, PA 15071 (Dr Coffey).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression
Lisanby
NEJM 2007;357:1939-1945.
FULL TEXT  

A Western Australian Survey On Public Attitudes Toward and Knowledge of Electroconvulsive Therapy
Teh et al.
Int J Soc Psychiatry 2007;53:247-271.
ABSTRACT  

Relation between electroconvulsive therapy, cognitive side effects, neuron specific enolase, and protein S-100
Agelink et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2001;71:394-396.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Hippocampus in Patients Treated With Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging Study
Ende et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000;57:937-943.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Is there a distinct subtype of major depression in the elderly?
Baldwin
J Psychopharmacol 1994;8:177-184.
ABSTRACT  

Quantitative Cerebral Anatomy in Depression: A Controlled Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Coffey et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1993;50:7-16.
ABSTRACT