Deep brain stimulation, a surgical procedure that involves inserting a neuroestimulator into a patient’s brain, can trigger almost immediate changes in the brain wave rhythm, which leads to the relief of treatment resistant depression in the next few days. The findings were detailed in a new study by the ICAHN School of Medicine in Mount Sinai and the University of Emory.
Treatment resistant depression is a mental health disorder in which normal interventions, such as therapy and medication, do not offer relief or can only reduce symptoms during a short duration before they return. Many studies have explored the problem and the potential ways of treating it, including everything, from the use of psychedelics to deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation is a surgical procedure that implants electrodes in specific brain regions. The neuroestimulator then works by sending electric pulses to the objective part of the brain, which can help treat problems such as essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, OCD and epilepsy.
Although previous research has linked deep brain stimulation with the relief of treatment resistant depression, this new study adds in another element: “an alleged physiological biomarker,” says researchers, which can be used to predict how effective the antidepressant effects will be resulting. The new evidence helps to pave the way for future studies and a better prediction about how well a patient can benefit from deep brain stimulation surgery.
The study reveals that deep brief brain stimulation during implant surgery changes the beta rhythm of the brain “in a matter of minutes.” This change is related to the relief of treatment symptoms resistant to treatment in the week after surgery. It is noteworthy that the study found that the greatest changes in the cerebral rhythm in the patient resulted in a greater relief of depression in the next few days.
Deep brain stimulation, which is approved by FDA for the treatment of certain conditions such as TOC and epilepsy, is still considered an experimental treatment when it comes to depression. Researchers behind this new study indicate that deep brain stimulation surgery has been “repeatedly” as effective, although discovering how it produces these effects remains an important issue.
When it comes to the depression treatment, the experimental procedure of deep brain stimulation is directed to the so -called “depression switch”, that is, a brain region called subcalaose cingulada, which evidence points as a key biological aspect of depression.
Stimulating this region of the brain can “reliably” causing long -term relief of depression symptoms, among other things such as behavioral changes. The adjustments to the beta rhythm of the brain play a role in this beneficial change, according to the study, with the co-direct author Allison C. Waters, Ph.D., explaining:
To evaluate the possible effects of deep brain stimulation such as treatment resistant depression therapy, scientists used data from eight patients who experienced surgery. The electrophysiological recording was carried out during the surgeries, while the stimulation was applied to the “depression switch” brain target for an hour. The researchers were able to register the electrical signals that passed through deep brain neurons during this time.Among other things, researchers used automatic learning technologies to make sense of data, including the identification of predictors related to how the patient would respond.
The study correlated a decrease in the beta power of the brain with rapid antidepressant effects, observing a decrease in depression score of 45.6 percent during the week after surgery. This compares with, for example, the months they can take for someone to begin to experience relief when taking antidepressant medications, which is not effective in people suffering from treatment resistant.