Fronto-medial electrode placement for electroconvulsive treatment of depression

Autor: J. Douglas Steele, Tom Farnan, David M. Semple, Siwei Bai
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Neuroscience, Vol 16 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1662-453X
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1029683
Popis: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for severe treatment-resistant depression but concern about cognitive side-effects, particularly memory loss, limits its use. Recent observational studies on large groups of patients who have received ECT report that cognitive side-effects were associated with electric field (EF) induced increases in hippocampal volume, whereas therapeutic efficacy was associated with EF induced increases in sagittal brain structures. The aim in the present study was to determine whether a novel fronto-medial (FM) ECT electrode placement would minimize electric fields in bilateral hippocampi (HIP) whilst maximizing electric fields in dorsal sagittal cortical regions. An anatomically detailed computational head model was used with finite element analysis, to calculate ECT-induced electric fields in specific brain regions identified by translational neuroimaging studies of treatment-resistant depressive illness, for a range of electrode placements. As hypothesized, compared to traditional bitemporal (BT) electrode placement, a specific FM electrode placement reduced bilateral hippocampal electric fields two-to-three-fold, whilst the electric fields in the dorsal anterior cingulate (dAC) were increased by approximately the same amount. We highlight the clinical relevance of this specific FM electrode placement for ECT, which may significantly reduce cognitive and non-cognitive side-effects and suggest a clinical trial is indicated.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals