Vagus nerve stimulation - A potential therapy for resistant depression?

For more than a century, neuroscientists have tried to develop noninvasive methods to stimulate the brain, thereby avoiding brain surgery and open craniotomy. As early as 1938, some investigators conjectured that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) would alter higher brain activity. Within the past 20 years, VNS in the neck has become routine, and a specific type of VNS has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant partial onset seizure disorder, with 9000 patients receiving implants worldwide. This year, a pilot study(51) using VNS in subjects with treatment-resistant depression showed encouraging results. This article summarizes the theory and practice of VNS and addresses many of the issues that must considered in the development of VNS as a potential antidepressant therapy and neuroscience probe. VNS seems to be a promising new somatic intervention that also may improve the understanding of brain function.