ArticleTranslational psychiatry2021
ECT-induced cognitive side effects are associated with hippocampal enlargement.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Cognitive Deficits in Depression: A Systematic Review.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions to diminish cognitive side effects of electroconvulsive therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2022Pooled it
- Electroconvulsive Therapy in Schizophrenia: Exploratory Study on the Efficacy, Cognitive Effects, and Safety of Right Unilateral Versus Bitemporal Techniques.Brain and behavior · 2026Trial
- Chronic Electroconvulsive Shock Disrupts Hippocampal Physiology and Impairs Associative Memory in Mice.Hippocampus · 2026Article
- Effects of Single Bolus Exposure to Propofol on Depression-like Behavior in a Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model in Mice.Anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Effects of electroconvulsive shock on the function, circuitry, and transcriptome of dentate gyrus granule neurons.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Cranial Sutures Alter Computational Models of Transcranial Electrical Stimulation.The journal of ECT · 2026Article
- Electroconvulsive Shock Induces Greater Plasticity of Dentate Gyrus Neurons Born in Adulthood Than Those Born in Development.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Article
- Clinical and biological markers of electroconvulsive therapy effectiveness: a narrative review.Translational psychiatry · 2026Review
- Relationship between hippocampal volume and treatment response before and after escitalopram administration in patients with depression.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effects of electroconvulsive therapy on hippocampal longitudinal axis and its association with cognitive side effects.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Neurobiological Mechanisms of Electroconvulsive Therapy: Molecular Perspectives of Brain Stimulation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The Effectiveness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Suicidality: An Updated Systematic Review.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Age-Dependent Efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Depression: A Longitudinal Study of Symptom Trajectories and Treatment Predictions.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- New insights into the mechanisms of electroconvulsive therapy in treatment-resistant depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- The myth of brain damage: no change of neurofilament light chain during transient cognitive side-effects of ECT.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Article
- Electroconvulsive therapy-induced volumetric brain changes converge on a common causal circuit in depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- How electroconvulsive therapy works in the treatment of depression: is it the seizure, the electricity, or both?Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Mechanism of Action of ECT in Depression.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is of the most effective treatments available for treatment-resistant depression, yet it is underutilized in part due to its reputation of causing cognitive side effects in a significant number of patients. Despite intensive neuroimaging research on ECT in the past two decades, the underlying neurobiological correlates of cognitive side effects remain elusive. Because the primary ECT-related cognitive deficit is memory impairment, it has been suggested that the hippocampus may play a crucial role. In the current study, we investigated 29 subjects with longitudinal MRI and detailed neuropsychological testing in two independent cohorts (N = 15/14) to test if volume changes were associated with cognitive side effects. The two cohorts underwent somewhat different ECT study protocols reflected in electrode placements and the number of treatments. We used longitudinal freesurfer algorithms (6.0) to obtain a bias-free estimate of volume changes in the hippocampus and tested its relationship with neurocognitive score changes. As an exploratory analysis and to evaluate how specific the effects were to the hippocampus, we also calculated this relationship in 41 other areas. In addition, we also analyzed cognitive data from a group of healthy volunteers (N = 29) to assess practice effects. Our results supported the hypothesis that hippocampus enlargement was associated with worse cognitive outcomes, and this result was generalizable across two independent cohorts with different diagnoses, different electrode placements, and a different number of ECT sessions. We found, in both cohorts, that treatment robustly increased the volume size of the hippocampus (Cohort 1: t = 5.07, Cohort 2: t = 4.82; p < 0.001), and the volume increase correlated with the neurocognitive T-score change. (Cohort 1: r = -0.68, p = 0.005; Cohort 2: r = -0.58; p = 0.04). Overall, our research indicates that novel treatment methods serving to avoid hippocampal volume increase may result in a better side effect profile.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.