A dissociation between anterograde and retrograde amnesia after treatment with electroconvulsive therapy: a naturalistic investigation.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the cumulative effects of a clinically determined course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on anterograde and retrograde amnesia. In this study, mood and memory were examined in the context of a protocol driven by therapeutic response, rather than by preordained research criteria.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with major depressive disorder and 18 nondepressed controls were taught a series of faces and names before the initiation of ECT, and their retention of this information was examined after the end of treatment.

An open-label, prospective study of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the long-term treatment of refractory depression: reproducibility and duration of the antidepressant effect in medication-free patients.

Objective: Several studies have assessed the acute antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and many have revealed positive results. However, the impact of rTMS throughout the long course of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the efficacy of rTMS in the treatment of depressive relapses still remain to be elucidated.

Method: Sixteen medication-free patients with refractory MDD (diagnosed according to DSM-IV) who initially had clinically significant antidepressant responses to a 10-day course of 10-Hz rTMS were consecutively admitted to the protocol from 1997 to 2001 and were followed for 4 years.

Relative effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroconvulsive therapy on mood and memory: a neurocognitive risk-benefit analysis.

Objective: Two procedures for treating major depressive disorder were compared with regard to their respective effects on mood and cognition.

Background: Fourteen patients underwent treatment with electroconvulsive therapy and 14 underwent treatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Patients were tested on three occasions: before initiation of treatment, at the end of treatment, and 2 weeks after the end of treatment.

Correlation of cerebral blood flow and treatment effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depressed patients.

The aims of this study were to: (1) assess the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on brain activity in depressed patients as measured by single photon emission tomography (SPECT); (2) evaluate the predictive value of brain SPECT on the antidepressant efficacy of rTMS. Patients (n=17) received 1600 rTMS stimuli at a rate of 10 Hz, 5 days per week for 2 weeks to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Whole brain SPECT data were acquired using Tc99m-Bicisate.

Inter- and intra-individual variability of paired-pulse curves with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Objectives: Previous studies have evaluated the variability of motor thresholds (MTs) and amplitude of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) within and across individuals. Here we evaluate the reproducibility and inter-hemispheric variability of measures of cortical excitability using the 'conventional' paired-pulse (PP) TMS technique.

Methods: We studied PP curves of the left and right hemisphere in 10 healthy subjects on two separate days 2 weeks apart.