ArticleJournal of affective disorders2023
Brain volumetric correlates of electroconvulsive therapy versus transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-resistant depression.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuroinflammation-informed neuroimaging-transcriptomic signatures explaining acupuncture's therapeutic effects in chronic insomnia.Chinese medicine · 2025Article
- Changes in Neural Activities and Neuroplasticity Related to Nonpharmacological Interventions for Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Review
- Outcomes of patients receiving interventional psychiatric procedures in a large integrated healthcare system.Psychiatry research · 2025Article
- Article
- New insights into the mechanisms of electroconvulsive therapy in treatment-resistant depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are effective neuromodulation therapies for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). While ECT is generally considered the most effective antidepressant, rTMS is less invasive, better tolerated and leads to more durable therapeutic benefits. Both interventions are established device antidepressants, but it remains unknown if they share a common mechanism of action. Here we aimed to compare the brain volumetric changes in patients with TRD after right unilateral (RUL) ECT versus left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) rTMS.
methodsWe assessed 32 patients with TRD before the first treatment session and after treatment completion using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Fifteen patients were treated with RUL ECT and seventeen patients received lDLPFC rTMS.
resultsPatients receiving RUL ECT, in comparison with patients treated with lDLPFC rTMS, showed a greater volumetric increase in the right striatum, pallidum, medial temporal lobe, anterior insular cortex, anterior midbrain, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. However, ECT- or rTMS-induced brain volumetric changes were not associated with the clinical improvement. LIMITATIONS: We evaluated a modest sample size with concurrent pharmacological treatment and without neuromodulation therapies randomization.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that despite comparable clinical outcomes, only RUL ECT is associated with structural change, while rTMS is not. We hypothesize that structural neuroplasticity and/or neuroinflammation may explain the larger structural changes observed after ECT, whereas neurophysiological plasticity may underlie the rTMS effects. More broadly, our results support the notion that there are multiple therapeutic strategies to move patients from depression to euthymia.
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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.