Deep Brain Stimulation Treats Depression

As we have all probably figured out with our design projects, there are different applications for deep brain stimulation. In this article a neurosurgeon has used deep brain stimulation to treat a woman with severe depression (afflicts as many as four million people). The woman, Diane Hire, has had severe depression for over twenty years, and has tried various treatments from drugs and therapy to electroconvulsive therapy.

The neurosurgeon created two holes on the left and right side of her brain respectively, which he used to feed wires, as thick as fishing line, which contained an electrode o n the end,into a specific region of her brain where mood and energy are regulated. The doctors mapped her brain, using images gathered over 180 MRI's, so they could be as precise as possible when positioning the electrode. The wires led to a battery-run stimulator located in Hire's chest. The neurosurgeon then applied about two volts through the wires and into her brain.

After the treatment she said that things seemed clearer and brighter to her. She commented that she actually felt happy and she smiled for the first time in twenty years. This treatment utilized the fact that electrical signals applied in the brain can facilitate cell communication. The exact mechanism, however, that is affected by this treatment is unkown. I found this quite interesting in light of our design project. Its interesting that stimulating the brain in various ways could create a variety of different affects, who knows what other diseases/disorders could be treated using deep brain stimulation? This just proves that there is so much more to learn about the brain and that its complexities could provide a variety of avenues for treating patients.

URL
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/7fe10fb25fef4110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html