Medicines won t work. Even measures such as electroconvulsive therapy don t improve the depression. MUSC Institute of Psychiatry researchers are exploring how stimulating a nerve that runs from the spinal chord to the brain could alleviate formerly untreatable depression. The device sends electric pulses through wires to the vagus nerve, an information superhighway of sorts that connects the brain to other parts of the body such as the heart and stomach. The vagus nerve carries the electric messages deep into portions of the brain that regulate mood and emotion.
Doctors program the device to deliver electric stimulation in specific intervals around the clock.
In 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved VNS as a treatment for epilepsy. VNS helps control seizures for people who do not benefit from medicine and who are not candidates for brain surgery. Doctors in MUSC Neurology Services are national leaders in using VNS to treat children with epilepsy. During research studies for VNS and epilepsy, doctors noticed that electrical stimulation also improved patients moods. This positive side effect led to the current VNS studies for depression.