More Nuanced Directions for Deep Brain Stimulation

That study included preplanned periods in which the stimulation was turned off in a blinded fashion in patients who had responded to treatment. That led to a slow, steady relapse over approximately a 2-week period. Improvements returned after stimulation was resumed, but recovery was not immediate.

Dr. Mayberg said she imagines a day when further research will identify the critical brain circuits to target with deep brain stimulation, imaging will guide electrode placement to effective sites for stimulation, and new devices will tune the current flow to get into the tracts that mediate the acute effects of depression.

Dr. David J. Nutt, chair of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said at the meeting that Dr. Mayberg’s research "does tell us something very fundamental about the way we should think about this. You can, with a small number of people, well studied, well characterized with brain imaging, make huge insights. You may actually be showing us a new way of doing other kinds of interventions, not just deep brain stimulation."

Dr. Mayberg discussed the off-label, experimental use of two devices for deep brain stimulation. She has an interest in related patents and has been a consultant for St. Jude Medical, which donated devices for some of the research. Her research has been funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, or NARSAD), the Dana Foundation, the Woodruff Foundation, and the Stanley Medical Research Institute.