Changes in regional cerebral blood flow after electroconvulsive therapy for depression.

Fifteen patients with major depression and normal results of magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomographic studies were treated by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of these patients was imaged using Tc-99m hexamethylpropylene amineoxime single-photon emission computed tomography before and after treatment, and their images were compared with a population of 11 healthy volunteers. Before ECT treatment, the patients had hypoperfusion of the frontal region compared with the controls, and they had multiple areas of altered perfusion throughout the brain. Five of the patients had an excellent clinical response to ECT; these patients also showed changes toward normal in rCBF. The remaining patients had minimal to moderate clinical response and showed no significant change in rCBF. These results indicate that improvement in clinical status as a result of ECT is correlated with a change toward normal in rCBF.