Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has been successfully used to treat people with Parkinson's disease, multiple schleroses and tourettes, however is a relatively new treatment option for depression.  It is usually only considered an option for those for whom other treatments have been unsuccessful.

Below we have links to research papers (the last two here can be heavy reading), and some more recent Australian articles that refer to clinical research studies. 

There are also Research Projects that are needing participants for DBS and this can be a great way to access treatment!

A video article on the internet from a Today Tonight program (31st January 2012)

A little more reader friendly than the two articles below; the Scientific American, has a blog entry Deep Brain Stimulation for Major Depression: Miracle therapy or just another treatment? (9th January 2012).

An article on Deep Brain Stimulation that was published in The Age in March 2011.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment Resistant Depression is a clinical study at Toronto University of 6 patients who received the treatment and was published in 2005 in Neuron v45.

Subcallosal Cingulate Gyrus Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression was published on neurosurgerytoday.org and is summarised as "A preliminary report in six patients (study above) suggested that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG) may provide benefit in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We now report the results of these and an additional 14 patients with extended follow-up."