When there is literally nowhere to go but up, a small pacemaker-like device could provide a lift for many sufferers of depression.
“It?s intended for folks with the most treatment-resistant depression,” said Dr. Scott Aaronson, a researcher with Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore. “With folks who are this badly depressed, even a 25 percent improvement would be incredible.”
Just more than 40 of the vagus nerve stimulators have been implanted by doctors around the country, and Aaronson has performed about half of those surgeries. The device delivers a very small electric jolt directly to the vagus nerve in the throat, which relays the current into the area of the brain that processes emotions. In clinical trials, 60 percent of the patients have experienced that 25 percent improvement.
Very few have had a complete turnaround.
Annie Carter, 29, of Reisterstown, is one of those rare cases.
After getting her VNS device implanted in November, Carter said she has re-joined the world she had given up before.
“All I was hoping for was to not be suicidal anymore,” she told The Examiner.
In five months, Carter has gone back to work full time, gone back to school, lost 50 pounds and cut down her daily diet of drugs from 13 to three.
“I was on electroconvulsive therapy, but it stole my short-term and my long-term memory. I basically sat on the couch all day and watched television,” she said.
Her doctor, Robert Lehman, said he will continue reducing her medications if she maintains her progress.
“She?s a walking miracle after a 10-year history of severe depression,” he said.
A complete turnaround is unusual, he said, but any improvement can be life-changing for these patients, most of whom have tried at least four other treatments with no clear results.
“Chronic, severe depression is a disabling illness,” Lehman said. By the time they are considered eligible for this surgery, “they have probably tried everything, including electroconvulsive therapy.”
