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

Increased gray matter volume (GMV) following electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been well-documented, with limited studies reporting a subsequent decrease in GMV afterwards. 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). 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 (T0), within one-week post-ECT (T1), and one to six months post-ECT (T2). RM-ANOVAs were used to assess longitudinal changes and LMM analyses explored associations between GMV changes and demographical and clinical characteristics. 63 of the 84 ROIs showed a significant increase-and-decrease pattern (RM-ANOVA, Bonferroni corrected p