An underused option for severe depression
A new study supports the use of noninvasive brain stimulation in people with severe depression who haven’t responded to medication.
Published: July, 2019, Harvard Women’s Health Watch
If medication isn’t helping to ease severe depression, nonsurgical brain stimulation may be an effective alternative to consider, according to a study published online March 27 by TheBMJ. Specifically, the study found that evidence seems to back the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) over other, newer brain stimulation therapies.
Read more https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/an-underused-option-for-severe-depression
Neuroimaging and Brain Mapping
At NCI, we use a variety of neuroimaging techniques to assess the structure and physiology of the brain. For many patients, a structural MRI of the brain is necessary as part of the neurodiagnostic process. Unlike most centers that rely on the radiologist’s interpretation of the scan, at NCI, our neuroradiologist’s use quantitative MRI software. NeuroQuantTM is FDA-approved image software that compares a patient’s regional brain volume in areas such as the hippocampus and white matter with those of a normative database that corrects for age, gender and head size. This quantitative structural neuroimaging technique is proving to be a useful tool in helping to discriminate among the various neurodegenerative dementia causing diseases. Read more
