Left Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for the Treatment of Depression

Kim, Hyeong Seob

Abstract

Depressive disorder is one of the very serious mental diseases in terms of personal, social, economical losses. It is not clear for the pathogenesis of the depression, however, even though decreased 5-HT and NE may be the biological causing factors in the neuronal synapses. Moreover, there are many depressive patients who are treatment resistant or partial responders. Thus, we have been needed the other therapeutic methods for those cases. Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) & VNS are the newly introduced methods for the treatment of refractory or partial responders with depression, which nature of therapeutic effect is the stimulation of the CNS. VNS has been used to treat the refractory epilepsy patients. Despite of numerous empirical and preclinical data, although VNS may be effective for the treatment of depression, the parameters for the treatment of depression using the VNS device have not been confirmed yet. However, from the several reports clinical effectiveness were described about 40%, thus, it is interested that VNS will be able to use for the treatment of depression in a future.