Somatics Thymatron System IV User Manual page 17

Thymatron System IV Instructions for Use
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improvement, which was not true for neuroinflammatory changes as measured by hippocampal metabolites. The
authors concluded that structural, but not metabolic, changes in the left medial temporal lobe are useful
neuroimaging biomarkers of ECT-induced clinical improvement in treatment-resistant depression.
Cano et al. (2018) used MRI to assess whole-brain gray matter volume in 24 subjects with treatment-resistant
depression before and after courses of bilateral or right-unilateral ECT given with a Thymatron® System IV
device. Bilateral ECT induced bilateral gray matter volume increases in the limbic system, compared with gray
matter volume increases limited to the right hemisphere after right-unilateral ECT. These are signs of neuronal
increase.
Doddi SR et al. (2018) reported a 72 year old man with severe depression following a subarachnoid hemorrhage
demonstrated on CT who received 9 bifrontal ECTs 33 days post-hemorrhage with a Thymatron® System IV
device, with dramatic improvement in sequential Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale scores, and Mini-
Mental State Scores that ranged from 28-30, all within the normal range. A repeat CT scan after the first ECT
showed no intracranial hemorrhage or any other acute intracranial process. Five months later he remained in full
remission. There were no reported signs of injury.
Ende et al. (2000) used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to study hippocampal effects of the
Thymatron® DG ECT device as reflected in N-acetylaspartate signals. In 17 patients receiving either unilateral
or bilateral ECT (all of whom improved with treatment), no differences were found from 30 control subjects in
hippocampal N-acetylaspartate signals, finding no evidence for ECT-induced hippocampal atrophy or cell death.
Gryglewski G et al. (2018) carried out Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans in 14 patients with unipolar
treatment-resistant depression before and after courses of right unilateral ECT administered with a Thymatron®
System IV device. Increases in volume of the right hippocampus, right amygdala, and right putamen by were
observed, localized in the basal and lateral nuclei, and the corticoamygdaloid transition area of the amygdala, the
hippocampal-amygdaloid transition area and the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Cortical thickness
increased in the temporal, parietal and insular cortices of the right hemisphere. These lateralized ECT-induced
structural changes occurred in hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei that have been specifically implicated
in the pathophysiology of depression and that retain a high potential for neuroplasticity in adulthood. These are
signs of neuronal increase and not injury.
Hirano et al. (2017) used task-related functional near-infrared spectroscopy to compare 108 healthy controls with
30 patients with major depressive disorder or bipolar depression before and after an ECT series administered
with a Thymatron® System IV device. Pre-ECT, patients exhibited significantly smaller oxyhemoglobin values
in the bilateral frontal cortex during a verbal fluency task than healthy controls, values that increased
significantly after ECT. A decrease in depression severity was significantly correlated with an increase in
oxyhemoglobin values in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. ECT normalized the impaired functional
responses during the cognitive task, demonstrating that the acute therapeutic effects of ECT may restore
abnormal functional responses to cognitive tasks in the frontal brain regions of depressives.
Kranaster L et al. (2014) analyzed serum levels of the established brain injury markers protein S-100 and
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