Author: Müller HHO1, Moeller S2, Lücke C1, Lam AP1, Braun N1,2, Philipsen A1
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Universitätsklinikum Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Conference/Journal: Front Neurosci.
Date published: 2018 Apr 10
Other:
Volume ID: 12 , Pages: 239 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00239. eCollection 2018. , Word Count: 104
In addition to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is one of the approved neurostimulation tools for treatment of major depression. VNS is particularly used in therapy-resistant depression (TRD) and exhibits antidepressive and augmentative effects. In long-term treatment, up to two-thirds of patients respond. This mini-review provides a comprehensive overview of augmentation pharmacotherapy and neurostimulation-based treatment strategies, with a special focus on VNS in TRD, and provides practical clinical advice for how to select TRD patients for add-on neurostimulation treatment strategies.
KEYWORDS: affective disorders; clinical practice; neurostimulation; therapy-resistant depression; vagus nerve stimulation
PMID: 29692707 PMCID: PMC5902793 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00239