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 cra niotomy. As early as 1938, some investigators conjectured that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) would alter higher brain activity. Within the past 20 yea rs, 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 pa rtial onset seizure disorder, with 9000 patients receiving implants worldwi de. This year, a pilot study(51) using VNS in subjects with treatment-resis tant depression showed encouraging results. This article summarizes the the ory and practice of VNS and addresses many of the issues that must consider ed in the development of VNS as a potential antidepressant therapy and neur oscience probe. VNS seems to be a promising new somatic intervention that a lso may improve the understanding of brain function.