There are now several approaches that help treat refractory or resistant depression beyond electronconvulsive therapy (ECT). Some of these you may be familiar with, including:
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
- Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
- repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
A VNS implanted device was previously approved by the FDA for treatment of depression after some manufacturing issues that originally had the feds reversing the approval.
In 2005, a VNS medical device was approved by the FDA as a long-term, adjunctive treatment (means “in addition to a primary treatment”) for adults with chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression whose depression did not respond to at least four antidepressant treatments. You can read more details from an industry analyst’s post at NakedMedicine.com.
