Over 5 Years, Vagal Nerve Stimulation Better than Treatment as Usual for Severe Depression
Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved treatment for both seizures and depression that has resisted other treatments. It requires an operation for the insertion of a stimulator in the chest wall and electrodes on the left vagus nerve in the neck. A new study by Scott T. Aaronson and colleagues presented at the 2015 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry observed severely depressed patients, 494 who received VNS and 301 who received treatment as usual in the community, over a period of five years. The patients who received VNS had greater response rates, they were more likely to have experienced remission, and their remissions lasted longer than those who received treatment as usual. Overall the patients who received VNS had lower mortality rates and suicide rates as well. VNS might be a good option for patients with depression that has not responded to most other treatments.
