Pioneering brain treatment tackles depression

Sheila Cook, from Torquay in Devon, suffered from depression for more than a decade and attempted to take her life on more than one occasion.

The 62-year-old is now beginning to enjoy life again after pioneering treatment was offered to her in Bristol.

The treatment accurately targets brain networks involved in depression.

Mrs Cook – whose illness had stopped responding to conventional treatments – was offered deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the first trial in the world that stimulates two different brain networks that are involved in depression.

Although DBS provided some temporary response, she relapsed and went on to be the first to have further advanced stereotactic neurosurgery, which was carried out in early 2010.

Since having the treatments Mrs Cook says her life has changed and she feels happy for the first time in years.

She is now planning on moving nearer to London to be closer to her grandchildren.

Mrs Cook said: "The effects were remarkable. Within a few weeks my life changed.

"I read books, did the housework, went for walks and, perhaps most importantly, got to know my family again."

DBS consists of inserting thin wires in the brain that are connected to a "pacemaker".

The effects are to inhibit and stimulate brain circuits that are specific to the condition being treated, with the current DBS trial targeting different circuits involved in depression.

These monitor the regulation of emotion, oversee the integration of emotion with bodily and intellectual function and regulate internal drives.

Leading the research is Dr Andrea Malizia, consultant senior lecturer in the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol and Mr Nikunj Patel, senior clinical lecturer in the Department of Neurosurgery at North Bristol NHS Trust.

Dr Malizia said: "Our patients and their families suffer enormously and it is often thought that nothing else can be done.

"This lady responded temporarily to two of the complex treatments that we initiated in Bristol, but in the end remission has only been achieved by persisting and moving on to the next advanced treatment."