Decreased Regional Brain Metabolism After ECT

OBJECTIVE: The antidepressant action of ECT may be related to its anticonvulsant properties. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose were used to test this hypothesis. METHOD: Ten patients with major depression were studied with PET before and appro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of psychiatry 2001-02, Vol.158 (2), p.305-308
Main Authors: Nobler, Mitchell S., Oquendo, Maria A., Kegeles, Lawrence S., Malone, Kevin M., Campbell, Carl, Sackeim, Harold A., Mann, J. John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antidepressants
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - metabolism
Depression
Depressive Disorder - metabolism
Depressive Disorder - therapy
Drug therapy
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Female
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Follow-Up Studies
Frontal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
Frontal Lobe - metabolism
Functional Laterality
Glucose - metabolism
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental depression
Metabolism
Middle Aged
Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Tomography, Emission-Computed - statistics & numerical data
Treatments
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Summary:OBJECTIVE: The antidepressant action of ECT may be related to its anticonvulsant properties. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose were used to test this hypothesis. METHOD: Ten patients with major depression were studied with PET before and approximately 5 days after a course of bilateral ECT. Statistical parametric mapping was used to identify regions of decreased cerebral glucose metabolism. RESULTS: Widespread regions of decreased regional cerebral glucose metabolism were identified after ECT, especially in the frontal and parietal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, and left temporal cortex. A region-of-interest analysis similarly indicated post-ECT reductions in regional cerebral glucose metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: ECT reduces neuronal activity in selected cortical regions, a potential anticonvulsant and antidepressant effect.
ISSN:0002-953X
1535-7228
DOI:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.2.305