Effect of electroconvulsive stimulation on morphological and physiological aspects of post-cardiac arrest cerebral microcirculation

SummaryWe investigated the effect of electroconvulsive stimulation (ECS) on cerebral circulation in vivo using the method for measuring microcirculation in real time with the photosensitizer dye Photosense and the fiber optic spectrofluorometer LESA-01-BIOSPEC.We have found that electroconvulsive stimulation significantly improved cerebral microcirculation (fourfold higher comparing to the control cerebral perfusion) after 30 min of room-temperature cardiac arrest. Morphologic study of the brain tissue showed the absence of rouleaux formation of erythrocytes (“sludged blood”) in the cerebral cortex microcirculation after the application of electrical stimulus.Electroconvulsive stimulation may be useful for improving cerebral microcirculation (blood flow) in cases of long-term brain hypoxia/anoxia after prolonged cardiac arrest.