Reply #60: A few snips:

[yowzayowzayowza]

The seven sites differed significantly in cognitive outcomes both immediately and 6 months following ECT, even when controlling for patient characteristics.

...

DISCUSSION

The seven hospitals differed in the magnitude of deficits at the post-ECT assessment (Figure 2), with significant differences in seven of the 11 cognitive measures. ... In turn, these differences among the hospitals were largely attributable to differences in ECT technique.

The demonstration of differences in the long-term cognitive outcomes as a function of hospital setting and treatment technique supports the conclusion that some forms of ECT have persistent long-term effects on cognitive performance.

Without evaluating a comparable group that did not receive ECT, it cannot be concluded,
however, that the extent of improvement in any group returned to premorbid levels.

Second, there was evidence that the number of treatments administered, an essential characteristic
of dosage, linearly covaried with the extent of long-term retrograde amnesia for autobiographical information for patients treated with BL ECT, but not for patients treated with RUL ECT. This provided internal support for the claim that choice of electrode placement is critical in determining the severity of long-term deficits.