Studies show brain pacemaker helps depression, OCD

By Debra Sherman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two of the largest and longest studies so far show a "brain pacemaker" can effectively treat depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers said on Friday.

Devices implanted in the chest, with leads that send electrical impulses to parts of the brain, have already been approved to treat movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia.

Dr. Ali Rezai, head of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the studies, said the technique known as deep brain stimulation helped the most severely depressed patients improve significantly.

Researchers from Butler Hospital/Brown Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School were also involved in the depression study.

Seventeen patients, diagnosed as having major depressive disorder, were followed for a year and demonstrated overall improvement in mood as well as social and occupational functioning, he said.

"These were severely depressed patients, the most depressed," Rezai said in an interview.

Patients included in the study had been depressed for at least five years, and were unresponsive to drug treatment or electric shock therapy, he said.

The brain pacemaker, manufactured by Medtronic Inc, was also effective in treating OCD, said Rezai, who was in Chicago to present the findings to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting next week.