2008 Woodie Awards
Nerve stimulators help with depression
Issue date: 5/1/08
As much as antidepressant drugs have come to dominate the popular discussion about the treatment of depression, they are not effective for all patients. In fact, between 6 and 13 percent of patients in a five-year study of depression remained unresponsive to treatment.
These patients suffer from treatment-resistant depression and present a need for the development of alternate treatments that are effective and long-lasting
Vagus nerve stimulation, or VNS, is a therapy for severe depression in which small electrical impulses are delivered to the vagus nerve via an implanted neurostimulator. The vagus nerve, the largest of the cranial nerves, extends from the brain stem into the abdomen and innervates several organs and brain regions.
The procedure was first found to be effective in treating patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy. Researchers found that patients who did not respond to standard antidepressants were more likely to have successful outcomes with VNS.
However, the difference in the patient pool in which the experiments were conducted plays a significant role in determining the effectiveness of VNS in treating depression.
Taking that into consideration, researchers from multiple institutes across Europe teamed up with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Hopkins to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VNS in treating depression in a different pool of patients.
Patients suffering from non-psychotic major depressive disorders including both unipolar and bipolar disorders were chosen from across six European countries: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.
The electrodes for VNS were then implanted into these patients and treatment was delivered for 10 weeks. The patients involved were too depressed to be taken off their medications and given only sham stimulation.
The protocol followed for the European study is similar to those followed by U.S. studies focusing on VNS treatments. Statistical analysis of the follow-up data demonstrated that there is a significant decrease in the severity of depression for patients who have undergone VNS treatment.
These patients suffer from treatment-resistant depression and present a need for the development of alternate treatments that are effective and long-lasting
Vagus nerve stimulation, or VNS, is a therapy for severe depression in which small electrical impulses are delivered to the vagus nerve via an implanted neurostimulator. The vagus nerve, the largest of the cranial nerves, extends from the brain stem into the abdomen and innervates several organs and brain regions.
The procedure was first found to be effective in treating patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy. Researchers found that patients who did not respond to standard antidepressants were more likely to have successful outcomes with VNS.
However, the difference in the patient pool in which the experiments were conducted plays a significant role in determining the effectiveness of VNS in treating depression.
Taking that into consideration, researchers from multiple institutes across Europe teamed up with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Hopkins to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VNS in treating depression in a different pool of patients.
Patients suffering from non-psychotic major depressive disorders including both unipolar and bipolar disorders were chosen from across six European countries: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.
The electrodes for VNS were then implanted into these patients and treatment was delivered for 10 weeks. The patients involved were too depressed to be taken off their medications and given only sham stimulation.
The protocol followed for the European study is similar to those followed by U.S. studies focusing on VNS treatments. Statistical analysis of the follow-up data demonstrated that there is a significant decrease in the severity of depression for patients who have undergone VNS treatment.
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