Deep Brain Stimulation May Be an Answer to Therapy-Resistant Depression

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Deep Brain Stimulation May Be an Answer to Therapy-Resistant Depression

(April 19, 2007) -- Scientists at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne suggest that a treatment with deep brain stimulation may be effective in improving the condition of patients suffering from therapy-resistant depression.

They studied the effect of deep brain stimulation treatment in two men and a woman, who had been suffering from very severe depression for several years that could neither be brought under control by medication nor by other therapies.

During the simulation, the condition of two of the three patients improved within a few days, while initial changes were noticeable in a matter of minutes.

The researchers, however, warn against hoping too much from this process because their study involved a very small number of patients.

In deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes are implanted selectively in certain areas of the brain and are stimulated using an electric pulse generator. The procedure has so far been used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

The scientists are investigating whether DBS also helps with certain psychiatric diseases such as compulsive behavioral disorders.

Initial tests conducted on about two dozen patients show that it could possibly also have an effect in the case of severe depression. But those tests have concentrated mainly on two areas of the brain in particular.

"By contrast we stimulated a third region, the nucleus accumbens," the Bonn Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas E. Schläpfer, explains.

During the study, the researchers implanted electrodes in the nucleus accumbens in the brains of the three participants, and stimulated them using an electric pulse generator in the chest. They observed some of the effects of the procedure instantly.

"One of the patients expressed the desire to go to the top of Cologne Cathedral a minute after the start of the stimulation and put this into practice the next day. The woman treated was similar. She said she would enjoy going bowling again," Thomas Schläpfer says.

In the first few days of the DBS the symptoms of depression improved significantly in two of the three patients, and their condition remained constant for as long as they were undergoing treatment. But as soon as the pulse generator was switched off, the depression recurred with full intensity.

"The recurring symptoms were so severe that for ethical reasons we could not permit the treatment to be interrupted for as long as we had originally planned," Professor Schläpfer emphasizes.

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The doctors did not observe any side effects like those occurring after the use of antidepressants, for the patients only complained about post-operative pain at the site of implantation.

The study has been published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Source: DailyIndia.com

Last updated: 4/07

Deep Brain Stimulation May Be an Answer to Therapy-Resistant Depression

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