Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Robotically Delivered fMRI-Guided Personalized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression
Published on: April 10, 2026
A long-term follow-up of clinical response and regional cerebral blood flow changes in depressed patients treated
Åke Berggren1, Lars Gustafson2, Peter Höglund3
1Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Department of Anaesthesia, Blekinge Hospital, SE-371 85 Karlskrona, Sweden; Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Background:
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most potent therapy. We investigated the clinical response and regional cerebral blood flow changes in depressed in patients treated with (ECT) in a repeated longitudinal study.
Method:
Forty-nine patients (21 men and 28 women) with a mean age 61 years underwent ECT. Forty-one patients grading improvement after the initial ECT-series (responder group) were compared with eight, grading no improvement (non-responder group). The patients underwent neuropsychiatric ratings, measure of clinical response (defined as ≥50% reduction of pre-treatment depression score) and measure of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF).
Results:
The responder group had an initial 60-82%, and the non-responder group a 30-64% clinical response throughout the follow-up. The non-responder group showed more reported depression (p=.003), and vegetative anxiety (p=.024), with a generally higher left temporal rCBF (p=.045).
Limitations:
The retrospective approach and the small sample-size.
Conclusion:
Patients with no subjective improvement after ECT had lesser objective clinical response, more sustained reported depression with anxiety features, and higher left temporal rCBF.
