Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1991 Nov;48(11):1013-21.
Brain anatomic effects of electroconvulsive therapy. A prospective magnetic resonance imaging study.
Coffey CE1, Weiner RD, Djang WT, Figiel GS, Soady SA, Patterson LJ, Holt PD, Spritzer CE, Wilkinson WE.
The pdf is here.
35 inpatients for had brain scans before, 2-3 days, and 6 months after ECT. There were no significant differences in volumes of various brain regions. The authors concluded:
"Our results confirm and extend previous imaging studies that also found no relationship between ECT and brain damage."
The tremendous importance of this study was that it confirmed that ECT does not cause deleterious brain structural changes, often referred to by critics of ECT as "brain damage."
Of course, now that MRI technology and measurement techniques are far more sophisticated than they were in the 1990s, we know that ECT actually does result in subtle structural changes in brain regions thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Many of these changes can be thought of as reversing the anatomic abnormalities caused by severe and prolonged depression.
The pdf is here.
35 inpatients for had brain scans before, 2-3 days, and 6 months after ECT. There were no significant differences in volumes of various brain regions. The authors concluded:
"Our results confirm and extend previous imaging studies that also found no relationship between ECT and brain damage."
The tremendous importance of this study was that it confirmed that ECT does not cause deleterious brain structural changes, often referred to by critics of ECT as "brain damage."
Of course, now that MRI technology and measurement techniques are far more sophisticated than they were in the 1990s, we know that ECT actually does result in subtle structural changes in brain regions thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Many of these changes can be thought of as reversing the anatomic abnormalities caused by severe and prolonged depression.
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