Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T12:56:59.092Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Time Course of Cerebral Magnetic Resonance Changes after Electroconvulsive Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

A. I. F. Scott*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
R. H. B. Douglas
Affiliation:
NMR Imaging Unit, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
A. Whitfield
Affiliation:
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
R. E. Kendell
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
University Department of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance images of the non-dominant cerebral hemisphere were obtained in 20 unipolar depressed patients immediately before and 25 minutes after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). T1 values rose about 1 %. Repeated scanning up to 24 hours after ECT was carried out in 13 of these patients. The greatest change in magnetic resonance images was two hours after ECT, and thereafter images gradually returned to baseline values. There was no correlation between magnetic resonance changes and the time taken to become re-orientated after ECT.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baddeley, A. D. (1968) A three minute reasoning test based on grammatical transformation. Psychonomic Science, 10, 341342.Google Scholar
Bolwig, T. G. (1984) The influence of electrically-induced seizures on deep brain structures. In ECT: Basic Mechanisms (eds Lerer, B., Weiner, R. D. & Belmaker, R. H.). London: Libbey.Google Scholar
Fink, M. (1979) Convulsive Therapy. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Folkard, S. (1986) Our diurnal nature. British Medical Journal, 293, 12571258.Google Scholar
Mander, A. J., Whitfield, A., Kean, D. M., et al (1987) Cerebral and brain stem changes after ECT revealed by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 6971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathur-De Vre, R. (1984) Biomedical implications of the relaxation behaviour of water related to NMR imaging. British Journal of Radiology, 57, 955976.Google Scholar
Rangel-Guerra, R. A., Perez-Payan, H. & Todd, L. E. (1982) NMR in the bipolar affective disorders. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 1, 229230.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773782.Google Scholar
Weiner, R. D. (1984) Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage? Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 7, 154.Google Scholar
Whitfield, A. & Douglas, R. H. B. (1989) The effect of general anaesthesia on the magnetic resonance imaging signal from the brain. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 62, 694696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.