A sample pacemaker-like device, used for deep brain stimulation therapy, and its electrodes which are implanted into a specific site in the brain are displayed at Mount Sinai West in New York on Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

The treatments history DBS research has continued for at least 20 years. Brain expert Dr. Helen Mayberg led early research that was called promising. But large studies launched more than 12 years ago saw no difference in treated and untreated groups. Dr. Katherine Scangos is a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco. She is also researching DBS and depression. She said there could be two reasons for the major studies showing no effect. She said one reason was that the treatment was not personalized for each individual in the two studies. The second was that researchers looked at outcomes over just a few weeks. Recent research has shown more promising results for depression. A 2022 study said that on average 60 percent of depression patients showed improvement with DBS. A study from 2023 said that after six months of targeted DBS treatment, 90 percent of subjects showed improvements. Seventy percent were no longer considered medically depressed.

Treatments being tested by teams today target individual patients more closely. The team at Mount Sinai, for example, is using brain imaging to find the right place to put electrodes in the brain. Mayberg is also with Mount Sinai. She said, Everybodys brain is a little different, just like peoples eyes are a little further apart or a nose is a little bigger or smaller. Looking ahead Medical devices manufacturer Abbott Laboratories is launching a large clinical trial on patients this year, ahead of a possible decision by the FDA. Scangos said: Im hoping we will have approval within a short time. But some doctors have concerns. They point to possible dangers of having a brain operation, which include bleeding, stroke and infection. Dr. Stanley Caroff is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He said scientists do not know the exact pathways or systems in the brain that produce depression. That makes it difficult to send the impulses to the right place.

I believe from a psychiatric point of view, the science is not there, he said of DBS for depression. Emily Hollenbeck, a deep brain stimulation therapy patient, demonstrates an EEG device that records brain activity as she reacts to short videos at Mount Sinais Q-Lab in New York on Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon) Moving forward Hollenbeck said DBS has not cured her. She still takes medicines for depression and needs ongoing care. She recently visited Mayberg of Mount Sinai in her office and discussed recovery. Its not about being happy all the time, Mayberg told her. Its about making progress. Researchers are studying the progress patients make. Recent research by Mayberg and others published in Nature said scientists can study brain activity to see how someone is doing at any given time.