A man who has lived with severe and resistant treatment for treatment for over 30 years is now in remission, thanks to a new method of brain stimulation that targets the selective areas of his brain.
The man said he had joy for the first time in decades after treatment. “He was crying and said:” I’m not sad, I’m just happy. I do not know what to do with these emotions “,” The first author of the study, Ziad Nahas, psychiatrist and professor at the University of Minnesota, told Gizmodo.
The Nahas and a team of researchers from several universities have developed a personalized method to set up electrodes and specifically send low electrical signals to brain areas that are involved in depression. By refining this stimulation using patient feedback, treatment relieved the participant’s symptoms for a period of up to two years. Their results are detailed in a new preparation Psyarxivwhich has not yet been evaluated by peers.
When depression is treatment
The single participant of the study initially contacted the researchers as they recruited for a new clinical trial. At the time, he had lived with a depression resisting treatment for three decades, after being hospitalized for the first time at the age of 13. Since then, he had undergone several hospitalizations and tried dozens of treatments alongside intensive psychotherapy. He also tried to commit suicide three times.
Depression resistant to treatment is a common form of major depressive disorder that does not improve significantly after at least two attempts at standard treatment, such as drugs or therapy. In such cases, electric therapy (ECT) – which stimulates the brain using low electric currents – is often considered as a next step. Although the ECT has been used for decades and can be effective for certain patients, it fails for others.
In the case of this patient, brain stimulation had previously failed to alleviate symptoms. He had undergone two lessons in electroconvulsive stimulation therapy. The first was moderately effective, but the second and third brought no relief.
The problem is that most studies stimulate specific brain areas based on a standard cerebral atlas, Damien Fair, a neuroscientist and professor at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of the study, explained to Gizmodo. This means that researchers do not often know exactly in which area they target, because everyone’s brain is different. “It’s a unique approach,” said Fair.
A tailor -made approach
To remedy this, the team has developed a personalized stimulation method adapted to the participant’s brain. First of all, they used functional MRI (IRMF) to map the borders of its brain networks previously linked to depression. This revealed that the patient’s salience network, which deals with external stimuli, was about four times larger than in depression, potentially contributing to its symptoms, said Fair.
Then the researchers surgically implanted four electrodes in the brain, on the borders of these brain networks. A few days later, they started sending electrical signals in each of the four networks individually.
When they stimulated the default fashion network (DMN), a group of regions linked to internal thinking processes, the patient began to feel happiness. Nahas immediately called Fair. “”[Nahas] said, “You don’t believe it. We have stimulated the default network, and [the participant] is based in tears of joy, ” remembers Fair.
Stimulation of the network in action mode, which is involved in planning, and the salience network has both leads man to report a feeling of calm. The targeting of the Frontoparietal network, which is involved in decision -making, has led to an improvement in the objective.
Over the next six months, the patient has received electrical stimulation in the various brain networks every day for 1 minute, every 5 minutes. The researchers continued to adjust the stimulation parameters each month using a statistical method which incorporated the daily feedback of the patient.
At seven weeks after surgery, the participant no longer felt suicidal thoughts. At six months, his symptoms had improved considerably. At nine months old, he had entered a complete remission. This remission lasted two years.
“The unique character of the rhythm combines a very precise and individualized individualized targeting of multiple networks and adjusting the parameters so that the patient can benefit the most advantages,” said Nahas.
The team has since implemented a second participant and plans to set up a third party. In the end, they aim to carry out a double -blind clinical trial.
Nahas recently received an email from the original participant, who had embarked on a road trip with his family. He appreciated his trip, he said. “In psychiatry, we have no remedies,” said Nahas, “but it is probably the closest that we can get.”
