Out on PubMed yesterday is this editorial by noted ECT researcher, Harold Sackeim:
The Impact of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Brain Grey Matter Volume: What Does It Mean?
Brain Stimul. 2020 May 19:S1935-861X(20)30093-0. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2020.04.014. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32442625
A link to the pre-print is here.
This is an erudite, theoretical piece, prompted by the neuroimaging studies of the GEMRIC
collaboration. It is certainly worth reading in it's entirety, but I can summarize for you, if you prefer: we do not yet understand the pathophysiology of the observed brain structural changes seen after ECT, nor do we understand their implications for efficacy or adverse effects. Dr. Sackeim discuses how we will need to disentangle effects from seizure, electrode placement, stimulus package and charge density in the brain, all the while taking into account the time course of ECT's actions (sometimes very rapid).
He concludes:
As Seymour Kety
once famously noted, ECT results in hundreds of consistent effects on brain
chemistry and physiology, making it almost impossible to sort out which effects
are essential to efficacy from all that are epiphonema [88]. However, we are
just at the start of widening our understanding of the meaning of these
volumetric effects, inspired by the findings of the GEMRIC multinational
collaboration.
Please see also blog post of 4/15/2020
Please see also blog post of 4/15/2020
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