Electroconvulsive therapy and structural neuroplasticity in neocortical, limbic and paralimbic cortex.

ABSTRACT: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective and rapidly acting treatment for severe depression. To understand the biological bases of therapeutic response, we examined variations in cortical thickness from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in 29 patients scanned at three time points during an ECT treatment index series and in 29 controls at two time points. Changes in thickness across time and with symptom improvement were evaluated at high spatial resolution across the cortex and within discrete cortical regions of interest. Patients showed increased thickness over the course of ECT in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), inferior and superior temporal, parahippocampal, entorhinal and fusiform cortex and in distributed prefrontal areas. No changes across time occur

SUBMITTER: Pirnia T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4931600 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature