VNS for Depression (updated) Results of a 2 year study show that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) can eliminate or reduce the symptoms of chronic or recurrent depression and improve the user's ability to perform daily functions.
Led by Dr. Mark George (Departments of Psychiatry, Radiology and Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina), data were collected at 3 points: an initial "acute" phase of 3 months, after 1 year and after 2 years. At the end of the acute study, 31% of participants "responded" to treatment (symptoms of depression were halved) and 15% were in remission (virtually symptom free). After 1 year of treatment, 45% had responded and 27% were in remission. After 2 years, 54% had responded to treatment.
VNS stimulates the limbic system, affecting mood, motivation, sleep, appetite, alertness and other factors commonly altered by depression. Depression — a chronic, disabling lifelong illness — affects 340 million people globally (1.8 million in Canada). Between 20% and 30% of people with depression do not respond favourably to current treatments.
VNS does not produce the unwanted side effects of many medications for depression (weight gain, sexual dysfunction, cognitive impairment, insomnia).
VNS was approved for use in the European Union (April 2001), Canada (April 2001), and the United States (July 2005) as a treatment of depression in patients with treatment-resistant or treatment-intolerant major depressive episodes including unipolar depression and bipolar disorder (manic depression).
Sources
Society of Biological Psychiatry.
Biological Psychiatry (Prepublication Article Abstract). "Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNSTM) for Treatment-Resistant Depressions: A Multicenter Study". Rush, A John; George, Mark S; Sackeim, Harold A; Marangell, Lauren B; Husain, Mustafa M; Giller, Cole; Nahas, Ziad; Haines, Stephen; Simpson, Richard K, Jr.; Goodman, Robert R. 1999.
www-east.elsevier.com/bps/abstracts/994888abs.htm
Xycorp Medical Inc.
www.cyberonics.com
www.longtermdepression.org
