Characterization of gray matter volume changes from one week to 6 months after termination of electroconvulsive therapy in depressed patients.

Background: Increased gray matter volume (GMV) following electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been well-documented, with limited studies reporting a subsequent decrease in GMV afterwards.

Objective: This study characterized the reversion pattern of GMV after ECT and its association with clinical depression outcome, using multi-site triple time-point data from the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC).

Methods: 86 subjects from the GEMRIC database were included, and GMV in 84 regions-of-interest (ROI) was obtained from automatic segmentation of T1 MRI images at three timepoints: pre-ECT (T), within one-week post-ECT (T), and one to six months post-ECT (T).

Update on the assessment of resistance to antidepressant treatment: Rationale for the Antidepressant Treatment History Form: Short Form-2 (ATHF-SF2).

All definitions of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) require that patients have experienced insufficient benefit from one or more adequate antidepressant trials. Thus, identifying "failed, adequate trials" is key to the assessment of TRD. The Antidepressant Treatment History Form (ATHF) was one of the first and most widely used instruments that provided objective criteria in making these assessments.

Sex-specifics of ECT outcome.

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for patients with severe major depressive disorder (MDD). Given the known sex differences in MDD, improved knowledge may provide more sex-specific recommendations in clinical guidelines and improve outcome. In the present study we examine sex differences in ECT outcome and its predictors.

Longitudinal Neurocognitive Effects of Combined Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Pharmacotherapy in Major Depressive Disorder in Older Adults: Phase 2 of the PRIDE Study.

Objective: There is limited information regarding neurocognitive outcomes of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse width electroconvulsive therapy (RUL-UB ECT) combined with pharmacotherapy in older adults with major depressive disorder. We report longitudinal neurocognitive outcomes from Phase 2 of the Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) study.

Method: After achieving remission with RUL-UB ECT and venlafaxine, older adults (≥60 years old) were randomized to receive symptom-titrated, algorithm-based longitudinal ECT (STABLE) plus pharmacotherapy (venlafaxine and lithium) or pharmacotherapy-only.

The benefits and costs of changing treatment technique in electroconvulsive therapy due to insufficient improvement of a major depressive episode.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) technique is often changed after insufficient improvement, yet there has been little research on switching strategies.

Objective: To document clinical outcome in ECT nonresponders who were received a second course using high dose, brief pulse, bifrontotemporal (HD BP BL) ECT, and compare relapse rates and cognitive effects relative to patients who received only one ECT course and as a function of the type of ECT first received.

Methods: Patients were classified as receiving Weak, Strong, or HD BP BL ECT during three randomized trials at Columbia University.