After undergoing detailed analysis on VNS(vagus nerve stimulator) technique, researchers have proved that by delivering an electrical charge into the brain through the vagus or pneumogastric nerve can chiefly help to eradicate depression but they are still not assured that why VNS works.
This vagus nerve stimulator power pack is only two-inch in diameter whose .25 inch thick disk can be surgically rooted under the skin near the left collarbone to connect it upwards with the vagus nerve in the neck. Its battery lasts till eight to twelve months and it is equipped with an off-switch so that patients can suspend the unit by placing a magnet over it.
The implanted disc can be easily programmed and reprogrammed via baton over the skin and to record patient’s data about the intensity and frequency of the pulse with device settings an individual memory cards are slotted into a handheld computer allied to the wand. The system then transports intermittent, rhythmic pulses to the nerve whose Latin name means ‘wandering’.
Dr. Mitchel Kling of the National Institutes for Health asserted:
We asked (epilepsy) patients who weren’t being helped if we could remove the device and by and large, the patients said, ‘No, no, don’t take this away. In some cases where there wasn’t good seizure control, patients’ mood problems stabilized.
Physicians are using VNS from last 10 years to treat epilepsy to (a brain disorder that causes people to have recurring seizures)slash seizures till upto 40 percent from some patients and, from then doctors began to identify its absolute prospective for treating severe depression even when it wasn’t helping their epilepsy.
After getting FDA approval of VNS as a depression treatment tool in July 2005, October 2005 study revealed that after using this VNS technique by severely depressed patients ninety-one percent retained their recovery in nine months and others who did not reported instantaneous benefits they showed improvement and even remission later on.
According to Dr. Darin Dougherty of Massachusetts General Hospital this technique reach almost half dozen areas of the brain to prove itself as an effective medication to treat severe depression.
Via: Kethar.livejournal
