Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for many patients suffering with treatment-resistant depression, but exactly how it works is not known. Scientists worldwide are racing for objective biomarkers of DBS treatment efficacy so that this experimental approach can be optimized, approved and disseminated to those in need. New research published November 3 in Translational Psychiatry, presents new evidence that brief intraoperative exposure to therapeutic stimulation at the time of implantation surgery induces rapid and consistent electrophysiological brain state change – indexed by a decrease in beta power measured at the site of stimulation. These intraoperative brain state changes are seen in individual subjects and are correlated with a significant and sustained decrease in depressive symptoms outside of the operating room without additional stimulation, establishing reduction in beta power as a novel biomarker for DBS treatment optimization.
The data presented are from a collaborative study at Emory University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Led by Helen S. Mayberg, MD, Mount Sinai Professor in Neurotherapeutics and Founding Director of the Nash Family Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics at Mount Sinai, this research is part of an ongoing National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative-funded grant.
Deep brain stimulation is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is a neurosurgical procedure involving placement of a neurostimulator (sometimes referred to as a “brain pacemaker”), which sends high-frequency electrical impulses through implanted electrodes deep in the brain to specific areas responsible for the symptoms of each disorder. While still an experimental treatment, DBS of the subcallosal cingulate (SCC, Area 25), a brain area that has been implicated as playing a major role in depression, has been repeatedly demonstrated as a promising intervention for patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
