Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:23:02.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cerebral and Brain Stem Changes After ECT Revealed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

A. J. Mander*
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital
A. Whitfield
Affiliation:
Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
D. M. Kean
Affiliation:
NMR Imaging Unit, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
M. A. Smith
Affiliation:
NMR Imaging Unit, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
R. H. B. Douglas
Affiliation:
NMR Imaging Unit, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
R. E. Kendell
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
Professorial Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF

Extract

Nuclear magnetic resonance images of the brain were obtained in fourteen patients with major depression during a course of ECT. The T1, relaxation time rose immediately after the fit reaching a maximum 4–6 h later. The T1, values then returned to their original level; no long-term increase occurred over the course of treatment. These results are consistent with an extensive but temporary breakdown of the blood-brain barrier during ECT.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Bolwig, T. G. & Westergaaro, E. (1977a) Acute hypertension causing blood-brain barrier breakdown during epileptic seizures. Acta Neurologien Scandinavica, 56, 335342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolwig, T. G., Hertz, M. M., Paulson, O. B., Spotoft, H. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1977b) The permeability of the blood-brain barrier during electrically induced seizures in man. European Journal of Clinical Investigations, 7, 8793.Google Scholar
Galloway, S. P., Dolan, R. J., Jacoby, R. J. & Levy, R. (1981) ECT and cerebral atrophy. A computed tomography study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavie a, 64, 442445.Google Scholar
Laursen, H., Gjerris, A., Barry, D. & Bolwig, T. G. (1985) Cerebral water content and vascular permeability to serum proteins in electrically induced seizures. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 82, 123.Google Scholar
Lippman, S., Manshadi, M. & Wehry, M. (1985) 1250 electroconvulsive treatments without evidence of brain injury. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 203204.Google Scholar
MacDonald, H. L., Bell, B. A., Smith, M. A., Tocher, J. L., Kean, D. M., Best, J. J. K. & Miller, J. D. (1985) In vivo correlation of NMR T1, and brain water. British Journal of Radiology., 58, 817.Google Scholar
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
Meldrum, B. S., Horton, R. W. & Brierley, J. B. (1974) Epileptic brain damage on adolescent baboons following seizures induced by allyglycine. Brain, 97, 407418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773782.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.