MRI scans could be breakthrough in cure for depression

MRI scans could be used to ease symptoms of depression for six months, new research has suggested.

Academics at the University of Nottingham have revealed using scans to deliver targeted magnetic stimulation to stimulate areas of depressed people’s brain could ease symptoms for up to six months.

The method, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), is usually delivered in sessions over four to six weeks and benefits could be extended by several months when using MRIs to ensure the same area of the brain is targetted each session.

open image in gallery

The team behind the BRIGhTMIND trial gave patients an MRI scan before starting TMS, which allowed researchers to target where the different brain systems involved in depression meet.

The second scan was taken 16 weeks after the first TMS session and looked at chemicals in the brain to help the team understand how the patient responded to the treatment.

The trial used neuronavigation, a computerised tracking system using light to deliver the TMS.

“Ideally when people come for a TMS session, they would sit in the exact same place, but this is rarely going to happen,” Richard Morriss, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Nottingham, said.

open image in gallery

“This method uses light from both ear lobes and the top of the nose to measure the stimulation point from the first time a patient has the treatment.”

Some 255 people took part in the trial and completed 20 TMS sessions. It was found that targeted TMS led to “substantial improvements” in the severity of patients’ depression and anxiety, with better function and quality of life over 26 weeks.

The lead for the Centre for Mood Disorders at the Institute of Mental Health added: “The MRI personalises the site of stimulation and then neuronavigation makes sure the same site is being stimulated at each treatment session.

“This reduces the variability in stimulation at each session. Since the magnetic pulse can be focused, there are usually only minor short-lasting side effects, and the person can return to their daily activities immediately on return from the hospital.”

Researchers said more than two-thirds of patients responded to the treatment, with a fifth moving into remission and staying there.

Professor Morriss described the results, published in Nature Medicine, as “encouraging”.

“Given these patients are people who have not responded to two previous treatment attempts and have been ill for an average of seven years, to get such a significant response rate and a fifth who have a sustained response is really encouraging,” he said.

“Patients who responded to the treatment could stay relatively well compared to how they were previously, with as little as one or two treatments a year.

“The changes we saw were substantial, not only in reducing their depression symptoms, but they were large enough to improve concentration, memory, anxiety and subsequently their quality of life.”

The BRIGhTMIND trial was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Professor Danny McAuley, scientific director for NIHR Programmes, said: “These are important findings showing this novel technique can hugely benefit patients with severe depression which has not responded to other treatments.”