Jun 29, 2008 11:02 pm US/Central
Electronic Implant Eases Depression
(WCCO)
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An implanted device called vagus nerve stimulation, stimilates the vagus nerve in the brain.
CBS
We all get the blues from time to time, but for about 19 million Americans the blues can become a constant and crushing burden. Their diagnosis is clinical depression.
The good news is that clinical depression is a treatable, medical condition for most patients. Twenty percent of patients, however, cannot find relief with conventional therapies.
Bill Alkofer, a busy and gifted photographer, is among that group. He enjoyed a long career with St. Paul's biggest newspaper, but he labored under the dark cloud of depression.
He admits he had considered suicide, but he has two powerful reasons for never choosing that option.
"I've got my daughters," he said. "It's like I've got to keep going, even in desperate times I keep looking and looking and looking [for a solution]."
Alkofer's search included psychotherapy, medication, electro-convulsive therapy, hospitalization, hypnosis, bio-feedback and more.
"I think I counted up 21 different drugs or therapies or treatments," he said.
Two years ago, Alkofer's psychiatrist agreed to try vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Thousands of epileptics have used a device made by Cyberonics, Inc. of Houston, Texas to control seizures. After a few months, some of the epileptics with depression reported feeling more upbeat.
The curly ends of wire leads are wrapped around the vagus nerve in the neck. The wires are connected to an electric pulse generator which is placed beneath the skin near the collar bone, much like a pacemaker would be implanted.
Alkofer's implant is programmed to deliver 30 seconds of mild electrical stimulation to the nerve every five minutes.
Psychiatrist Craig Vine said VNS seems to help in at least two ways.
"It appears to affect both the chemicals in the brain and the blood flow in the brain," he said.
Vine said VNS is used in a small number of patients, and it doesn't work for all of them. However, it seems to offer a ray of hope where some patients would otherwise have none.
Treatment resistant depression is so tenacious that, according to clinical trails, after a year of drug therapy only 13 percent of patients reported their symptoms of depression had been cut in half. However, for VNS patients, that number jumps to 30 percent. And, after two years, 56 percent of VNS patients say they were helped.
Alkofer said even with the VNS implant he has some bad days, but, along with medication, his depression is manageable now. He said the joys of life are back. His next goal is to help more people accept depression as a treatable medical condition.
Perhaps, more people would seek help, he said. Perhaps his younger brother would not have taken his life.
"It runs in the family," said Alkofer. "I'm sure if you go back three generations the great uncle who died in a, quote, barn accident was probably sufferer of depression or bi-polar."
Vines said paying attention to your own moods or those of people you care about is a good way to see the warning signs of depression.
"It can affect sleep, appetite, energy, concentration. But it also affects functioning. So people with depression are no longer able to do the things that they normally would do. Or it is much more difficult," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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