Trial reportJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry2020
Long-term deep brain stimulation of the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule for treatment-resistant depression.
Trial report in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and facilitators to implementing deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Applications of machine learning in deep brain stimulation for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2025Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness and threshold analysis of deep brain stimulation vs. treatment-as-usual for treatment-resistant depression.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- The ventral capsule and ventral striatum-Stereotactic targets for the management of treatment-resistant depression. A systematic literature review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Neuromodulation Treatment Effects on Suicidality.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis-nucleus accumbens stimulation for depression: A randomized, double-blind, crossover trial.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Trial
- Reversible modulation of a deep white matter surgical target for depression with low-intensity focused ultrasound.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Metabolic activity in subcallosal cingulate predicts response to deep brain stimulation for depression.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Mechanism and progress of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.MedScience · 2026Review
- The neuroanatomy and connectivity of the ventral striatum and ventral capsule area in the Göttingen minipig.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Has Deep Brain Stimulation Shown Its Full Potential in Treatment-Resistant Depression? A Scoping Review.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
- Characteristics of resting-state EEG after deep brain stimulation in nucleus accumbens and anterior limb of internal capsule: a pilot study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Physical Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression A Comprehensive Review of Efficacy, Safety, and Evidence Grading.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
- Deep brain stimulation improves symptoms across all dimensions in treatment-resistant depression.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
- Symptom specific deep brain stimulation for depression.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
- Deep brain stimulation modulates directional limbic connectivity in major depressive disorder.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- The Targets of Deep Brain Stimulation in the Treatment of Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Review.Brain and behavior · 2025Review
- Deep brain stimulation of the amygdala for treatment-resistant combat post-traumatic stress disorder: Long-term results.Journal of psychiatric research · 2024Article
- Deep brain stimulation for refractory major depressive disorder: a comprehensive review.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Opportunities and challenges for the use of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of refractory major depression.Discover mental health · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveDeep brain stimulation (DBS) reduces depressive symptoms in approximately 40%-60% of patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but data on long-term efficacy and safety are scarce. Our objective was to assess the efficacy and safety of DBS targeted at the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule (vALIC) in 25 patients with TRD during a 1-year, open-label, maintenance period, which followed a 1-year optimisation period.
methodsDepression severity was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and self-reported Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-SR). Primary outcomes were response rate (≥50% HAM-D-17 score reduction) after the maintenance phase, approximately 2 years after DBS surgery, and changes in depression scores and occurrence of adverse events during the maintenance phase.
resultsOf 25 operated patients, 21 entered and 18 completed the maintenance phase. After the maintenance phase, eight patients were classified as responder (observed response rate: 44.4%; intention-to-treat: 32.0%). During the maintenance phase, HAM-D-17 and MADRS scores did not change, but the mean IDS-SR score decreased from 38.8 (95% CI 31.2 to 46.5) to 35.0 (95% CI 26.1 to 43.8) (p=0.008). Non-responders after optimisation did not improve during the maintenance phase. Four non-DBS-related serious adverse events occurred, including one suicide attempt.
conclusionsvALIC DBS for TRD showed continued efficacy 2 years after surgery, with symptoms remaining stable after optimisation as rated by clinicians and with patient ratings improving. This supports DBS as a viable treatment option for patients with TRD. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR2118.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.