Hope for Treatment Resistant Depression

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have announced the results of a two-year study, which tested the long-term antidepressant response to VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulation) Therapy in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Patients who responded to VNS, either early or late in treatment, continued to experience significant clinical benefit up to 24 months of treatment.

This is good news for those with TRD because VNS is the first and only treatment to demonstrate these long-term benefits. Patients with TRD generally either do not respond to antidepressants or they develop a tolerance to them after six months. Patients who receive Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), which is considered the most effective acute intervention for TRD, usually experience relapse within a year after the treatment.

VNS involves the implantation of a device in the neck which sends a periodic electrical impulse to the vagus nerve. VNS was originally developed as a treatment for epilepsy.

The study will appear in the April issue of the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.