title: Electroconvulsive therapy increases temporal gray matter volume and cortical thickness.
abstract: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment of choice for severe and therapy resistant forms of major depressive episodes (MDE). Temporal brain volume alterations in MDE have been described for more than two decades. In our prospective study we aimed to investigate individual pre-post ECT treatment whole brain gray matter (GM) volume changes (quantified with voxel-based morphometry) in a sample of 18 patients with MDE. In addition, we studied the effect of ECT on voxel-based cortical thickness in cortical brain regions. The most prominent longitudinal GM increases (significant at a whole brain corrected level) occurred in temporal lobe regions. Within specific region of interest analyses we detected highly significant increases of GM in the hippocampus and the amygdala and to a lesser extent in the habenula (left p=0.003, right p=0.032). A voxel based cortical thickness analysis revealed an increase in cortical temporal regions (basically temporal pole and insula) further corroborating our cortical voxel-based morphometry results. Neither GM decreases or white matter increases nor correlations of GM changes with basic psychopathological parameters were detected. We corroborate earlier findings of hippocampal and amygdala GM volume increase following an acute ECT series in patients with MDE. Temporal GM volume increase was significant on a whole brain level and further corroborated by a cortical thickness analysis. Our data widely exclude white matter loss as an indirect cause of GM growth. Our data add further evidence to the hypothesis that ECT enables plasticity falsifying older ideas of ECT induced "brain damaging".
authors.affiliation: Research Group Translational Imaging, Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: alexander.sartorius@zi-mannheim.de.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sartorius
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Traute
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Demirakca
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Böhringer
authors.affiliation: Research Group Translational Imaging, Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clemm von Hohenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Suna Su
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Aksay
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan Malte
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bumb
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kranaster
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ende
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Amygdala; Cortical thickness; Depression; Electroconvulsive therapy; Hippocampus; VBM