Iterative strategies to refine and optimise DBS for depression, Prof. Helen Mayberg

27 May 2016, SwissTech Convention Center, Lausanne, Switzerland

Website: thebrainforum.org

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), the targeted modulation of discrete neural circuits using implanted electrodes, is an emerging experimental treatment strategy for patients with intractable major depression. To date, surgical implantation of DBS leads has relied on high-resolution structural images to localise the stimulation target followed by trial-and-error behavioural testing at individual contacts. As use of this technology has matured, imaging continues to play a crucial role, with recent work focused on refinement and optimisation of the procedure using multimodality modelling of structural and functional connections along specific white matter tracts combined with real-time behavioural and electrophysiological metrics. Further, imaging biomarkers are being pursued to define patient subtypes most likely to benefit. Together these studies offer a unique perspective on critical pathways and mechanisms mediating antidepressant effects of DBS, and on the pathophysiology of treatment resistant depression more generally.

About speaker
Prof. Helen Mayberg, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Radiology and the Dorothy Fuqua Chair in Psychiatric Neuroimaging and Therapeutics at Emory University. Over the last 25 years, her interdisciplinary depression research team has worked to integrate cutting-edge imaging strategies, quantitative behavioural and psychophysiological metrics, and experimental treatment trials to define brain-based biomarkers that can optimise treatment selection for individual patients.

About The Brain Forum
Researchers, engineers, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, industrialists, investors, funding agencies and policy makers meet at The Brain Forum 2016, to advance our understanding of how the brain works and to accelerate the application of this knowledge in society and the economy.