As a neuroscientist I am particularly interested in the neurobiological mechanisms of major depressive disorders and their treatment with various forms of neurostimulation therapies

Leif Oltedal is a consultant neuroradiologist at Haukeland University Hospital and associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen in Norway. He  is center leader of MMIV research center for AI, translational and clinical research in medical imaging.

I lead the Neurostimulation and Brain imaging research group at the Department of Clinical Medicine in Bergen and research projects on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) at MMIV. I am also the leader of the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC), which is a network of researchers who use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the effects of ECT on the brain.

My research interests concern the structure and functioning of the human brain and spans from basic neuroscience disciplines such as anatomy and patch-clamp electrophysiology to clinical oriented research with neuroimaging in psychiatry and radiology. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms underlying mental disorders and how neurostimulation can be used as an effective therapeutic option. In radiology I am also involved in the development of novel MRI techniques for precision diagnostics or brain tumors (gliomas).  

For an overview of recent publications, please see my publication list or Google Scholar profile 

 

 

 

 

Neuroradiology

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Academic article

• Joey P.A.J. Verdijk; Julia C.M. Pottkämper; Freek ten Doesschate et al. (2026). Electroconvulsive therapy induces rapid microstructural and macrostructural changes, but microstructural changes are longer-lasting. (external link)
• Nataliia Moshina; Marthe Larsen; Åsne S. Holen et al. (2026). Artificial Intelligence for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Screening with and without Prior Examinations in BreastScreen Norway. (external link)
• Kjersti Sellevåg; Christoffer Bartz-Johannessen; Ketil Joachim Ødegaard et al. (2026). Diverging Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms During Electroconvulsive Therapy: Toward Personalized Treatment. (external link)
• Cassia Bree Trewin-Nybråten; Paul Lambert; Kirsten Marienhagen et al. (2025). Unveiling regional differences in glioblastoma patient survival with real-world data from the Norwegian brain tumor quality registry. (external link)
• Anne-Kristin Støbakk Stavrum; Lea Sirignano; Leila Marie Frid et al. (2025). Epigenetic and blood markers associated with response to electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depressive disorders. (external link)
• Olga Therese Ousdal; Miklos Argyelan; Maarten Laroy et al. (2025). Effects of electroconvulsive therapy on hippocampal longitudinal axis and its association with cognitive side effects. (external link)
• Akihiro Takamiya; Frank Riemer; Vera Jane Erchinger et al. (2025). Acute and transient change in brain water content induced by a single electroconvulsive therapy session. (external link)
• Vera Jane Erchinger; Ole Johan Evjenth Sørhaug; Stein Magnus Aukland et al. (2025). Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Brain Structure: A Neuroradiological Investigation Into White Matter Hyperintensities, Atrophy, and Microbleeds. (external link)
• Jakob Schreiner; Ute Kessler; Ketil Ødegaard et al. (2024). Exploring New Electroencephalogram Parameters in Electroconvulsive Therapy. (external link)
• Maximilian Kiebs; Danielle C. Farrar; Antoine Yrondi et al. (2024). Electroconvulsive therapy and cognitive performance from the Global ECT MRI Research Collaboration. (external link)
• Joey P. A. J. Verdijk; Laurens A. van de Mortel; Freek ten Doesschate et al. (2024). Longitudinal resting-state network connectivity changes in electroconvulsive therapy patients compared to healthy controls. (external link)
• Erlend Skaga; Cassia Bree Trewin-Nybråten; Pitt Niehusmann et al. (2024). Stable glioma incidence and increased patient survival over the past two decades in Norway: a nationwide registry-based cohort study. (external link)
• Åsa Karin Hammar; Eivind Haga Ronold; Malene Alden Spurkeland et al. (2024). Improvement of persistent impairments in executive functions and attention following electroconvulsive therapy in a case control longitudinal follow up study. (external link)
• Maarten Laroy; Filip Bouckaert; Olga Therese Ousdal et al. (2024). Characterization of gray matter volume changes from one week to 6 months after termination of electroconvulsive therapy in depressed patients. (external link)
• Edda Ottarsdottir; Øystein Vesterli Tveiten; Leif Oltedal et al. (2024). Impact of subjective and objective language function and psychological distress on quality of life in glioma patients awaiting surgery. (external link)
• Miklos Argyelan; Zhi-De Deng; Olga Therese Ousdal et al. (2023). Electroconvulsive therapy-induced volumetric brain changes converge on a common causal circuit in depression. (external link)
• Freek ten Doesschate; Willem Bruin; Peter Zeidman et al. (2023). Effective resting-state connectivity in severe unipolar depression before and after electroconvulsive therapy. (external link)
• Willem Benjamin Bruin; Leif Oltedal; Hauke Bartsch et al. (2023). Development and validation of a multimodal neuroimaging biomarker for electroconvulsive therapy outcome in depression: A multicenter machine learning analysis. (external link)
• Leila Marie Frid; Ute Kessler; Olga Therese Ousdal et al. (2023). Neurobiological mechanisms of ECT and TMS treatment in depression: study protocol of a multimodal magnetic resonance investigation. (external link)
• M.A.J.T. Blanken; M.L. Oudega; A.W. Hoogendoorn et al. (2023). Sex-specifics of ECT outcome. (external link)
• Vera Jane Erchinger; Alexander R. Craven; Lars Ersland et al. (2023). Electroconvulsive therapy triggers a reversible decrease in brain N-acetylaspartate. (external link)
• Jakob Emil Schreiner; Ute Kessler; Ketil Joachim Ødegaard et al. (2023). Exploring New Electroencephalogram Parameters in Electroconvulsive Therapy. (external link)
• Marianne Hjellvik Hannisdal; Dorota Goplen; Saruar Alam et al. (2023). Feasibility of deep learning-based tumor segmentation for target delineation and response assessment in grade-4 glioma using multi-parametric MRI. (external link)
• L.A. van de Mortel; W.B. Bruin; R.M. Thomas et al. (2022). Multimodal multi-center analysis of electroconvulsive therapy effects in depression: Brainwide gray matter increase without functional changes. (external link)
• Giulio Emilio Brancati; Njål Brekke; Hauke Bartsch et al. (2021). Short and long-term effects of single and multiple sessions of electroconvulsive therapy on brain gray matter volumes. (external link)
• Nils Opel; Katherine L Narr; Christopher Abbott et al. (2021). Elevated body weight modulates subcortical volume change and associated clinical response following electroconvulsive therapy. (external link)
• Benjamin Wade; Gerhard S. Hellemann; Randall Espinoza et al. (2021). Accounting for symptom heterogeneity can improve neuroimaging models of antidepressant response after electroconvulsive therapy. (external link)
• Akihiro Takamiya; Annemiek Dols; Louise Emsell et al. (2021). Neural Substrates of Psychotic Depression: Findings From the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration. (external link)
• Peter C. R. Mulders; Alberto Llera; Christian F. Beckmann et al. (2020). Structural changes induced by electroconvulsive therapy are associated with clinical outcome. (external link)
• Mohummad Aminur Rahman; Jorunn Brekke; Victoria Smith Arnesen et al. (2020). Sequential bortezomib and temozolomide treatment promotes immunological responses in glioblastoma patients with positive clinical outcomes: A phase 1B study. (external link)
• Malin Ovat Blomberg; Maria Semkovska; Ute Kessler et al. (2020). A Longitudinal Comparison Between Depressed Patients Receiving Electroconvulsive Therapy and Healthy Controls on Specific Memory Functions. (external link)
• Vera Jane Erchinger; Jeremy Miller; Thomas Jones et al. (2020). Anterior cingulate gamma-aminobutyric acid concentrations and electroconvulsive therapy. (external link)
• Tore Ivar Malmei Aarsland; Ieva Leskauskaite; Øivind Midttun et al. (2019). The effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on serum tryptophan metabolites. (external link)
• Miklos Argyelan; Leif Oltedal; Zhi-De Deng et al. (2019). Electric field causes volumetric changes in the human brain. (external link)
• Olga Therese Ousdal; Miklos Argyelan; Katherine L. Narr et al. (2019). Brain changes induced by electroconvulsive therapy are broadly distributed. (external link)
• Benjamin Wade; Gerhard Hellemann; Randall Espinoza et al. (2019). Depressive Symptom Dimensions in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression and Their Modulation With Electroconvulsive Therapy. (external link)
• Roshan A. Karunamuni; Nathan S. White; Annette Fromm et al. (2019). Improved characterization of cerebral infarction using combined tissue T2 and high b-value diffusion MRI in post-thrombectomy patients: a feasibility study. (external link)
• Takahiro Soda; Declan M. McLoughlin; Scott R. Clark et al. (2019). International Consortium on the Genetics of Electroconvulsive Therapy and Severe Depressive Disorders (Gen-ECT-ic). (external link)

Academic literature review

• Zaira Romeo; Margherita Biondi; Leif Oltedal et al. (2024). The Dark and Gloomy Brain: Grey Matter Volume Alterations in Major Depressive Disorder-Fine-Grained Meta-Analyses. (external link)
• Yoshifumi Abe; Vera Jane Erchinger; Olga Therese Ousdal et al. (2024). Neurobiological mechanisms of electroconvulsive therapy for depression: Insights into hippocampal volumetric increases from clinical and preclinical studies. (external link)
• Olga Therese Ousdal; Giulio E. Brancati; Ute Kessler et al. (2021). The Neurobiological Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy Studied Through Magnetic Resonance: What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go?. (external link)
• Vera Jane Erchinger; Lars Ersland; Stein Magnus Aukland et al. (2021). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy in depressed subjects treated with electroconvulsive therapy—A systematic review of literature. (external link)
• Jan Scott; Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei; Rebecca Strawbridge et al. (2019). Prospective cohort study of early biosignatures of response to lithium in bipolar-I-disorders: overview of the H2020-funded R-LiNK initiative. (external link)

Conference poster

• Lucia Wagner; Gyrid Nygaard; Ute Kessler et al. (2021). ECT’s Effects on the Brain’s Motor Coordination. (external link)

Journal corrigendum

• Miklos Argyelan; Zhi-De Deng; Olga Therese Ousdal et al. (2023). Correction: Electroconvulsive therapy-induced volumetric brain changes converge on a common causal circuit in depression (Molecular Psychiatry, (2023), 10.1038/s41380-023-02318-2). (external link)

Letter to the editor

• Marco Hirnstein; Leif Oltedal (2025). Transkraniell magnetisk stimulering – kommet for å bli. (external link)
• Olga Therese Ousdal; Rolf Gjestad; Leif Oltedal (2021). Reply to: Clinical Relevance of Brain Changes After Electroconvulsive Therapy: Is There Really No Link at All?. (external link)

Professional article

• Erlend Moen Taule; Stephanie Schipmann-Miletic; Frits Thorsen et al. (2022). Hjernemetastasar – diagnostikk og behandling. (external link)

Study protocol

• Eivind Haga Ronold; Daniel Jensen; Anders Lillevik Thorsen et al. (2025). Cognitive deficits in treatment-resistant depression: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. (external link)

Textbook

• Eivind Aakhus; Per Bergsholm; Therese Torgersen Bigseth et al. (2026). ECT og andre nevrostimulerende behandlingssmetoder. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in NVA.

Publications

I lead the Neurostimulation and brain imaging research group and the following ongoing studies

1) The Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC) 

- The GEMRIC was established in 2015 and defined as a Global network for determining the mechanisms of action of Electroconvulsive Therapy using Magnetic Resonance Imaging through Collaboration. The collaboration is coordinated by Dr. Leif Oltedal, and the   common data repository is located at the University of Bergen. 

2) ECT and Neuroradiology (ECTMRI)

- Electroconvulsive therapy, acute and longitudinal effects https://mmiv.no/ect/. Studied by MRI (Structural, diffusion (RSI), MR spectroscopy (including Glutamate and GABA)); Neuropsychological tests and blood samples. See protocol paper here. Web page in Norwegian here.

3) Neurobiological mechanism of ECT and rTMS treatment (FundECT). An observational study which includes patients with moderate and severe depression who receive electroconvulsive therapy or repetetive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation at Haukeland Univeristy Hospital.   

 

In addition to the above projects I am involed in a number of ongoing studies in Neuroradiology and Psychiatry. 

 

 

Previous projects

RSI in neuroradiological imaging

- Restriction Spectrum Imaging (RSI) to characterize diffusion signal in cerebral infarction. Restricted versus hindered diffusion.