Emory explores new electrode treatment for depression

Let's get into this health news story here. An estimated 18.4% of adults in Georgia have been told by medical professionals that they have a depressive disorder. But for nearly 2.8 million Americans, traditional antidepressants and therapy provide little to no relief. So joining us now to talk about what Emory is doing to help solve this. is Dr. Patricio Riva-Posa. Thanks so much for joining us. He's with Emory School of Medicine, and you're working on a new study here to help people with depression. Thanks so much for being here. Good morning, Jasmine. Yes. So as you were mentioning, you know, treatment for depression has become more effective in the last few years. But unfortunately, there is still a group of patients that despite going through multiple rounds of treatment, whether it's antidepressants and psychotherapy, and in some cases, you know, brain stimulation therapies like Transcranial magnetic stimulation or electroconvulsive therapy, they still remain depressed or they relapse, meaning have symptoms again, despite getting these very effective treatments. For this particular population, which is, as you were saying, about a third of patients with major depressive disorder, we are now doing a clinical trial. That is called the Abbott Transcend Study that, you know, is using tools that have been used for several decades in the treatment of Parkinson's disease to see if we can improve symptoms of depression. So we are very excited. We have already done about five of these procedures in since we launched the study. We have another surgery in the next couple of weeks. And we have been working on it for many, many years. And now finally, we are going to do in this clinical trial in which patients are able to be enrolled. Dr. Patricio, thanks so much for talking about this study here. I want to go back to you said that some people were still experiencing depressive episodes despite receiving medicine. What was triggering that relapse in them and what prompted you all to, you know, get the study going? That's a great question. Unfortunately, the biology of depression is one that we're still trying to find out what causes patients to have relapses in treatment. Regardless of that, sometimes medications stop working, sometimes circumstances change in patients' lives and put them back in a depressive state. But depression is an illness that is not just Being sad, patients with severe chronic depression usually withdraw from society, have problems in their relationships, at work. They want to be able to enjoy life again, to be productive members of society and to enjoy life as it comes. So, For these patients, this treatment that might seem, you know, innovative actually has been being done, you know, at Emory since 2007 when we did the first surgeries. These are, you know, procedures that are unusual in the sense that, you know, usually people don't think about going to treat depression with a brain surgery. But the advances in neuroscience allow us to now identify certain circuits in the brain that respond very well to this very mild, kind of simple surgery in which it's complicated. But we put an electrode in a specific area of the brain and then... That is turned on, and delivering very small amounts of electricity, patients noticeably report an improvement in symptoms slowly over a period of months. So this is a clinical trial that is not only here at Emory, but across 25 sites in the United States, and we have been doing the most important work. many years and now we are able to share it with the rest of the of the world so we're hoping that we will have the successful results to show that this treatment works. Absolutely and break it down one more time for us you all are exploring this deep brain stimulation talk about how this works for a patient and how it differs from traditional treatments. Right. Yeah, that's a great question. So it's very different from traditional treatments for depression that involve usually taking antidepressants or doing psychotherapy. For patients who have already exhausted those treatments, this involves... A brain surgery, under anesthesia, patients are implanted with two small electrodes, one in each hemisphere of the brain, and that electrode goes specifically to a place in the brain that is no more than a couple of millimeters of range, and the surgeon very precisely implants that, then that is connected under the skin. To a battery similar to a pacemaker, so this would be something similar, you know, in the analogy to having a pacemaker of the circuits of the brain that allow us to improve symptoms of depression. And share with us how this is going to contribute to nationwide research and, again, transform treatment options or provide new treatment options for people. Yeah. So first of all, you know, I encourage patients who are or people, you know, the audience that is suffering from depression to reach out to your doctors because there is treatment and there is very effective treatment already. However, if you have been, you know, You know, in treatment and you still have symptoms, you know, consider participating in this clinical trial. We hope that when we end up this study, hopefully in the next three years, we will be able to demonstrate that this brain surgery that appears. To treat, you know, in earlier data, symptoms of depression, having a large number of patients that now will be able to participate, we will show that this, you know, is better than not doing anything else. And for these patients, this improvement in depression can be transforming, can be really, you know, increasing the quality of life, being able to, you know, to get A true enjoyment for what it is to be alive in this world. I understand. Thanks so much for joining us to talk about this. Any final thoughts here about this new study and how it can support people? Well, if you're interested in reaching out, you know, you can look for this Abbott Transcend study. And at Emory, we are recruiting. So you might be able to reach out to us. You will have, of course, to be sent by your psychiatrist and we will review medical records. But we are very interested in recruiting patients that might be good candidates for us. All right. Sounds good. Thanks so much for joining us to talk about the study and we wish you all the best in it. So thank you. Thank you, Jasmine.