Revitalizing Lost Memories

Although there is robust evidence of electroconvulsive therapy's (ECT's) efficacy in severe mental illnesses, its use is still constrained by patients' and clinicians' concern about the possibility of cognitive side effects. It is established that anterograde amnesia usually recovers within weeks of the acute ECT treatment course, whereas retrograde memory loss can persist in the long term in some patients. To date, it remains unknown whether retrograde memory loss after ECT can recover and, if so, how.This case report describes a patient who received an acute course of bifrontal 0.5 milliseconds ECT within a time frame of 6 months. The patient initially experienced significant memory loss, including anterograde and retrograde amnesia, the latter including knowledge and skills learnt from more than a decade prior to ECT. During the first year after the patient received ECT, her anterograde memory functioning recovered, but her retrograde memory loss remained. Notably, 2 years after the last ECT treatment, the patient observed an ability to rapidly relearn the material and skills that were lost after ECT. We believe that this case report will offer hope for patients who experience longer-term retrograde memory loss after ECT and stimulate new research on novel interventions for post ECT amnesia.