Man with severe depression felt joy for the first time in years thanks to implant

44 -year -old patient has no longer have suicidal thoughts. After nine months, it reached the state of remission. Improvement has been remaining for two and a half years. This is how this new cerebral pacemaker works.

It is described as a “Pacemaker for the brain” and has just made history in the brain of a 44 -year -old man.

The patient, who had suffered from depression since he was 13, claims to have felt joy for the first time in over 30 years.

Over the years, it has been subjected to more than 20 treatments, including antidepressants, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). None brought lasting improvements, advances to. His condition led him to Three suicide attempts.

But everything goes by, and hope finally came through the hands of researchers at the University of Minnesota who, led by the neuroscientist Damien Fairthey conceived a personalized brain implant capable of stimulating various areas of the brain.

Unlike traditional methods, such as ECT, which always act in the same area regardless of the patient, this approach is into account individual differences in the structure and cerebral functioning. This is because, explains Fair, “all brains are different.”

In the first phase, the team resorted to magnetic resonances to map four brain nets associated with depression. Found that protruding networkresponsible for processing internal and external stimuli, it was widely In the patient – about four times higher than usual in healthy brains, which may have contributed to the persistence of symptoms.

Based on this mapping, surgeons implanted four sets of electrodes at different points of the brain through small drilling in the skull. Initially, these electrodes were linked to external wires that sent soft electrical impulses, stimulating each network in isolation.

The answers were immediate. When the standard mode network, associated with introspection and rumination, was stimulated, the patient untied to cry with joy. The stimulation of the network of the mode of action and the grid of protrusion generated sensations of calm, while activation of the frontoparietal network has improved concentration and decision making.

I still get chills

Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts

Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE

see paper, thread

— Damien Fair (@DrDamienFair)

Shocked by the surprising results, the team turned on the electrodes to two small batteries implanted under the patient’s collarbone. Function as a “pacemaker cerebral”, By stimulating different areas of the brain for a minute every five minutes throughout the day.

The patient also received a application that allowed him to alternate between different stimulation patterns and register his symptoms daily. Over the course of several months, researchers have adjusted the parameters based on this clinical record.

The transformation was quick. Seven weeks after surgery, the patient stopped reporting suicidal thoughts. After nine months, he reached the state of remission, according to the Hamilton depression assessment scale. Improvement has been remaining for more than two and a half years, only with a slight setback when it contracted COVID-19.

Investigators believe that the abnormal size of the protruding network may have played a decisive role in the patient’s positive response, but It’s still early To find out if people with different brain characteristics will benefit the same way. Higher -scale clinical trials will be required to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the method.

Another advantage of this new procedure is that it required less computational resources and a shorter hospital stay.