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VOA健康报道2024--Electrical Device in Brain Might Help with Depression

时间:2024-03-11 01:30:25

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(单词翻译)

  Electrical Device in Brain Might Help with Depression

  Deep brain stimulation1, or DBS, is an experimental treatment that involves having an electrical device placed in the brain.

  The treatment gives patients' brains targeted electrical impulses.

  Researchers say DBS could help some of the nearly 3 million Americans with depression that resists other treatments. It is approved for conditions like Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. Many doctors and patients hope it will become more widely available for depression.

  Recent research suggests gains are possible and more research is planned. However, two earlier studies showed no gains using DBS for depression. Those results have slowed the treatment that involves a brain operation. Some scientists continue to raise concerns about DBS.

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to speed up its study of Abbott Laboratories' request to use its DBS devices for treatment-resistant depression.

  "Nothing else was working"

  Emily Hollenbeck lived with severe depression. She compared it to a black hole. She felt as though her arms and legs could barely move. She knew both of her parents had taken their lives and that her condition was dangerous.

  Hollenbeck, who grew up poor and sometimes homeless, suffered from signs of depression as a child. In college, after her father's suicide in 2009, she had her first period of major depression. Another happened while she was working. She was concerned she would lose her teaching job and become poor again. She went to the hospital.

  "I ended up having sort of an on-and-off pattern," she said. Medication helped her for a while.

  She was able to earn a doctoral degree in psychology2 although she lost her mom in her final year of graduate school. But the depression stayed with her. At times, she said, she thought about ending her life.

  She was willing to try something extreme.

  Her doctor then told her about DBS three years ago.

  "Nothing else was working," she said.

  She became one of a few hundred people to have her depression treated with DBS.

  Hollenbeck is part of ongoing3 research at Mount Sinai West medical center in New York City. Her brain operation took place while she was sedated5 but still awake. Dr. Brian Kopell directs Mount Sinai's Center for Neuromodulation. He placed thin metal electrodes in the part of her brain believed to control emotional behavior and is thought to be involved in feelings of sadness.

  The thin metal electrodes are connected by wires to a device placed under the skin of her chest. The device controls the electrical impulses sending current to her brain.

  Doctors involved in DBS say the impulses help because the brain uses electricity to send signals.

  In normal brains, Kopell said, electrical activity spreads through the brain unblocked to all areas. In depression, he said, the brain's emotional signals get blocked. He compared the problem to dancing. He said DBS seems to "unstick the circuit," permitting the brain to do what it normally would. A circuit is the path unblocked electrical current takes.

  Hollenbeck said the effect on her was almost immediate6.

  "The first day after surgery, she started feeling a lifting of that negative mood, of the heaviness," said her psychiatrist7, Dr. Martijn Figee.

  For Hollenbeck, the biggest change was finding pleasure in music again.

  She wishes her treatment had been available for her parents.

  The treatment's history

  DBS research has continued for at least 20 years. Brain expert Dr. Helen Mayberg led early research that was called promising8. 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 depressed9.

  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, "Everybody's brain is a little different, just like people's 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: "I'm 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 psychiatry10 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.

  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. "It's not about being happy all the time," Mayberg told her. "It's 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.

  Study subjects can provide data from their homes about how they feel. Subjects answer questions and send data from their devices to researchers. They also send videos where researchers can observe speech and facial movements.

  Additionally, patients go to Mount Sinai so researchers can collect more information about their body movements. Hollenbeck, for example, is showing faster movements as her condition improves.

  The data gained, combined with other information like life events, records how she is doing. This helps guide doctors' decisions about treatment, like increasing the amount of electricity used — which they did once.

  Hollenbeck showed AP the scars on her chest and head where doctors had placed the DBS devices. To her, they were signs of how far she had come.

  She added, "...I'm able to see and remember, even on a bodily level, that I'm going to be OK."

  Words in This Story

  impulse – n. a small amount of energy that moves from one area to another

  pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

  psychology – n. the science or study of the mind and behavior

  sedate4 – v. to give (a person or animal) drugs that cause relaxation11 or sleep

  electrode – n. one of the two points through which electricity flows into or out of a battery or other device

  chest – n. the front part of the body between the neck and the stomach

  negative – adj. harmful or bad: not wanted

  psychiatry – n. a branch of medicine that deals with mental or emotional disorders12

  clinical trial – n. a research study in which a medical treatment is carefully tested on people to find out how safe and effective it is


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 stimulation BuIwL     
n.刺激,激励,鼓舞
参考例句:
  • The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
  • You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。
2 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
3 ongoing 6RvzT     
adj.进行中的,前进的
参考例句:
  • The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
  • The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
4 sedate dDfzH     
adj.沉着的,镇静的,安静的
参考例句:
  • After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后,医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
  • We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。
5 sedated sedated     
v.使昏昏入睡,使镇静( sedate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She's sedated,but she's probably scared out of her mind. 她很安静,但是她可能已经吓疯了。 来自电影对白
  • Are you telling me the porn actually sedated you? 你是要告诉我,那毛片的确让你镇静下来吗? 来自电影对白
6 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
7 psychiatrist F0qzf     
n.精神病专家;精神病医师
参考例句:
  • He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
  • The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。
8 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
9 depressed xu8zp9     
adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的
参考例句:
  • When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
  • His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。
10 psychiatry g0Jze     
n.精神病学,精神病疗法
参考例句:
  • The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
  • A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。
11 relaxation MVmxj     
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐
参考例句:
  • The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
  • She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。
12 disorders 6e49dcafe3638183c823d3aa5b12b010     
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调
参考例句:
  • Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告,厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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