Structural Plasticity of the Hippocampus and Amygdala Induced by Electroconvulsive Therapy in Major Depression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) elicits a rapid and robust clinical response in patients with refractory depression. Neuroimaging measurements of structural plasticity relating to and predictive of ECT response may point to the mechanisms underlying rapid antidepressant effects and establish biomarkers to inform other treatments. Here, we determine the effects of diagnosis and of ECT on global and local variations of hippocampal and amygdala structures in major depression and predictors of ECT-related clinical response.

Methods

Longitudinal changes in hippocampal and amygdala structures were examined in patients with major depression (N = 43, scanned three times: prior to ECT, after the second ECT session, and within 1 week of completing the ECT treatment series),

SUBMITTER: Joshi SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4561035 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature