TreatmentTreatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) is expected to add new biological treatment: the first to explore magnetic resonance (MRI) guided focused ultrasound treatment of refractory depression research is under way, the first patient has been receiving this treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and safety of ultrasound in the treatment of refractory depression.
“There is still a need for effective noninvasive treatment options in patients with depression,” said lead researcher Dr. Jin Woo Chang of the Yonsei University School of Medicine in South Korea. “We will continue to monitor this patient and see if the symptoms Over time. ”
This pilot study included 10 patients with severe depressive symptoms who were not responding well to drugs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). These subjects will receive MRI-guided focused ultrasound, and the investigators will evaluate the efficacy at 6-month follow-up.
When asked about ultrasound treatment of refractory depression in the work flow, the United States Women’s Hospital of Breugan epilepsy and functional neurosurgery department director Dr. Rees Cosgrove said that this treatment is currently used in the treatment of idiopathic tremor with ultrasound “The patient first needs shaving, the head is placed in a fixed frame, and the focused ultrasound treatment is performed in a magnetic resonance machine,” he said.
Focused ultrasound equipment can be 1000 beam ultrasound energy pool, and role in the internal capsule forelimb, the structure as antidepressant therapeutic target concept has a long history. “We have used this structure as a target for many years, but prior to the thermal ablation method. The advantage of focused ultrasound is that you do not need to put something in your head, do not craniotomy or drilling in the skull, However, the target is the same, the role of the area is the same. This means to avoid the risk of craniotomy, but also painless.
Similar to ECT, researchers can not be entirely clear about how the burning of a small fraction of tissue in the deeper part of the brain produces an antidepressant effect. However, empirical observations based on thermal ablation internal capsule incision have shown that the state of mind and function of the patient progressively improves over time, a process that continues for many years. “In fact, the patient’s anxiety symptoms tend to improve immediately, so anxious depression often relieves very quickly,” Dr. Rees Cosgrove points out. “However, the core symptoms of depression and obsessive-compulsive symptoms may take a long time to bear fruit.”
“Therefore, the efficacy of the play has an incubation period, this time may still need to maintain antidepressant treatment, and ultimately the possibility of real drugs from the very low.”
An earlier study published in Molecular Psychiatry included four patients with refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The main investigator of this study is the same person as this study. OCD, anxiety, and depressive symptoms improved over the 6-month follow-up period with the same MRI-guided focused ultrasound treatment. In fact, the improvement of depression and anxiety symptoms in subjects can be described as rapid and significant, and there is no physical or neuropsychological adverse reactions. There was no significant difference in neuropsychological test scores at 6 months of follow-up compared to baseline.
“We do not know, focus ultrasound this treatment is really flawed, but repeat: the advantage of this technology is that we can see through MRI we want to ablation of the target, so the ‘deviation’ “The possibilities are minimal.”
“Thus, focused ultrasound is a revolutionary technology that allows us to safely perform functional neurosurgery without the risk of placing devices in the brain, including implanted electrodes or hardware.”
Leave a Reply