St. Jude wins patent on depression treatment

St. Jude has been awarded a patent for DBS to cg25 for Major Depression, read the newsbrief here and here (FDANews).

Studies show brain pacemaker helps depression, OCD

Read a press announcement on a DBS trial for OCD in 26 patients here.

Inclusion criteria for ANS BROADEN study

• Have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD)
  
• Are between 21 and 70 years old
  
• Had your first depressive episode before age 45
  
• Have tried at least four treatments in your current episode; for example, different medications, different combinations of medications, and/or ECT
  
• Are open to considering a surgical option for your depression
  
• Are willing to get copies of your records from your psychiatrist for the last few years 
  
• Are available for follow-up visits for 12+ months
  
• Are willing to transfer your primary psychiatric care to the study psychiatrist.
  

Deep brain stimulation lecture

Ludvic Zrinzo a consultant neurosurgeon and senior clinical researcher at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, will deliver a lecture on Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) at the next meeting of the Philosophy Society to be held on April 30 at 7 p.m. at Francis Ebejer Hall, Lecture Centre.
DBS is a powerful surgical technique developed to treat chronic neurological disorders whereby electrodes implanted deep within various structures of the human brain allow clinicians to modify abnormal brain activity, providing relief from disabling symptoms of conditions such as Parkinson's disease and Dystonia.
However, surgical modulation of human brain function can also influence thought and emotion as well as movement.
Chronic pain, Tourette syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression have all been treated with DBS.
Should our society hail the therapeutic advent of brain control or denounce it because of potential abuse? Mr Zrinzo's presentation is an introduction to the reality and aspirations of functional neurosurgery. It is anticipated that the subject matter will inspire a healthy ethical and philosophical debate among the participants.

Mood Disorders: Where Technology Meets Tradition

Annual Meeting & Scientific Program of the Ohio Psychiatric Physicians Association (OPPA

Saturday, April 12th was the 2008 Spring/Annual Meeting for the OPPA: Mood Disorders: Where Technology Meets Tradition.

The meeting was held at the Hilton Cleveland East (Beachwood.) It was a well attending event with members from all over Ohio. It was exciting to see such a great resident turnout!

Here is a list of the great presentations we had this year:
"Neuroimaging and Psychiatry: Basic Principles and Possibilities" & "Neuroimaging and Neurocognitive Studies of Bipolar Disorder" by Jair C. Soares, MD

"Treatment Refractory Depression" by Stephen F. Pariser, MD

"Treatment Resistant Bipolar Disorder" by Prashant Gajwani, MD

"PET Imaging to Assess Acute and Chronic Effects of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Treatment Resistant Depression" by Charles R. Conway, MD

"The Use of Deep Brain Stimulation in Psychiatric Disorders" by George E. Tesar, MD

"ECT for Treatment Resistant Mood Disorders" by Susan Kimmel, MD

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the acute treatment of major depressive disorder: clinical response in an open-label extension trial

PMID: 18294022
 
TITLE: Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the acute treatment of major depressive disorder: clinical response in an open-label extension trial.
AUTHORS: David H Avery, Keith E Isenberg, Shirlene M Sampson, Philip G Janicak, Sarah H Lisanby, Daniel F Maixner, Colleen Loo, Michael E Thase, Mark A Demitrack, Mark S George

AFFILIATION: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98104-2499, USA.

REFERENCE: J Clin Psychiatry 2008 Mar 69(3):441-51

BACKGROUND: This report describes the results of an open-label extension study of active trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in medication-resistant patients with major depressive disorder who did not benefit
from an initial course of therapy in a previously reported 6-week,
randomized controlled study of active versus sham TMS. 

METHOD: Patients with DSM-IV-defined major depressive disorder were actively enrolled in the study from February 2004 through September 2005 and treated with left prefrontal TMS administered 5 times per week at 10 pulses per second, at 120% of motor threshold, for a total of 3000 pulses/session. The primary outcome was the baseline to endpoint change score on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). 

RESULTS: In those patients who received sham in the preceding randomized controlled trial (N = 85), the mean reduction in MADRS scores after 6 weeks of open-label active TMS was -17.0 (95% CI = -14.0 to -19.9). Further, at 6 weeks, 36 (42.4%) of these patients achieved response on the MADRS, and 17 patients (20.0%) remitted (MADRS score < 10). For those patients who received and did not respond to active TMS in the preceding randomized controlled trial (N = 73), the mean reduction in MADRS scores was -12.5 (95% CI = -9.7 to -15.4), and response and remission rates were 26.0% and 11.0%, respectively, after 6 weeks of additional open-label TMS treatment. 

CONCLUSIONS: This open-label study provides further
evidence that TMS is a safe and effective treatment of major depressive disorder. Furthermore, continued active TMS provided additional benefit to some patients who failed to respond to 4 weeks of treatment, suggesting that longer courses of treatment may confer additional
therapeutic benefit. 

TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00104611.

Mood Improvement with Deep Brain Stimulation

An interesting summary of targets and approaches of DBS for Mood Improvement.

Read it here.