RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
   Antidepressants
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Depression Channel

subscribe to Depression newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Depression

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Electrical deep brain stimulation can dramatically alleviate treatment refractory depression

Mar 1, 2005 - 5:46:00 PM
"Patients and their families described renewed interest and pleasure in social and family activities, decreased apathy and anhedonia, as well as an improved ability to plan, initiate, and complete tasks that were reported as impossible to attempt prior to surgery."

 
[RxPG] Electrical deep brain stimulation can dramatically alleviate depression that is resistant to other treatments, researchers have found in an initial study on six patients. The finding is important, they said, because up to 20 percent of patients with depression fail to respond to standard treatments--requiring combinations of antidepressant drugs, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) that still may fail. The number of resistant depression patients can be large, since depression is the leading source of disability in adults under age 50 in North America.

The 6 month study led by Helen Mayberg of Emory University School of Medicine and colleagues showed that the patients reported immediate improvements in mood when the electrical stimulation of a few volts was applied to the implanted electrodes. These effects persisted in four of the patients for the full 6 months, with three patients achieving remission or near remission of the depression. No psychological side effects were reported, and other adverse effects were limited to minor infections around the implant site, which were treatable with antibiotics, wrote the researchers.

The researchers concluded that, although the study was limited in scope and length, deep brain stimulation "may represent an effective, novel intervention for severely disabled patients with treatment-resistant depression."

The six patients who participated in the study showed severe depression according to the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. They had all failed to respond to at least four different treatments, including drugs, psychotherapy, and ECT.

The researchers implanted the array of electrodes in a region called the "subgenual cingulate region," which their earlier studies had indicated to be overactive in treatment-resistant depression.

Precisely calibrated stimulation of a few volts produced immediate effects, the researchers wrote. "All patients spontaneously reported acute effects including 'sudden calmness or lightness,' 'disappearance of the void,' sense of heightened awareness, increased interest, 'connectedness,' and sudden brightening of the room, including a description of the sharpening of visual details and intensification of colors in response to electrical stimulation," wrote the researchers. These effects were reversed when stimulation was turned off and returned when it was resumed.

"Unexpectedly, with application of stimulation for progressively longer periods (from 1 to 3 hr), there was an increasing and correspondingly longer carry-over of the beneficial behavioral effects beyond cessation of the stimulation," reported the researchers.

During the initial weeks of stimulation, "Patients and their families described renewed interest and pleasure in social and family activities, decreased apathy and anhedonia, as well as an improved ability to plan, initiate, and complete tasks that were reported as impossible to attempt prior to surgery."

Analysis of brain activity using positron emission tomography revealed that the deep brain stimulation corrected abnormal hyperactivity in the subgenual cingulate region, which was correlated with abnormally decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

Psychological testing showed that the surgery did not reduce cognitive function in the patients. In fact, patients showed significant improvement in hand-eye coordination, verbal fluency, and judgment of risk.

Over a 6 month period of chronic stimulation, four of the patients continued to show significant antidepressant response, with three showing remission or near remission of illness, reported the researchers.



Publication: Publishing in Neuron, Volume 45, Number 5, March 3, 2005, pages 651–660. www.neuron.org
On the web: http://www.neuron.org/ 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Depression News
Does Dad's stress affect his unborn children?
Unhealthy eating leads to increased depression
Online CBT is Effective in Depression & Panic Disorders: RCT
Care Management Reduces Suicidal Ideation in Geriatric Depression
Incubator care at birth reduces depression risk in adult life
Depression during pregnancy doubles risk of premature delivery
Depression is wrongly seen as natural part of getting older
Depression increases risk of Alzheimer's disease
Antidepressants that are more efficient and faster
Depressed older people risk losing their minds

Subscribe to Depression Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
Helen S. Mayberg, Andres M. Lozano, Valerie Voon, Heather E. McNeely, David Seminowicz, Clement Hamani, Jason M. Schwalb, and Sidney H. Kennedy: "Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression"

The researchers included Helen S. Mayberg of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, University of Toronto, and Emory University School of Medicine; Andres M. Lozano, Clement Hamani, and Jason M. Schwalb from the Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network at University of Toronto; Valerie Voon and Sidney H. Kennedy of the University Health Network at University of Toronto; Heather E. McNeely of Center for Addiction and Mental Health at University of Toronto; and David Seminowicz of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre and the Institute of Medical Science at University of Toronto. This study was supported by a distinguished Investigator Award to H.S.M. from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD).
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)