SAINT depression treatment is a new approach that is showing promise in treating depression. In this article, Depression Open Talks will provide an overview of the SAINT depression treatment and its potential benefits.
People can be affected in various ways by a mental health disorder known as depression. Some people may find brief relief from their symptoms via treatment. Others struggle with depression constantly, and treatment doesn’t seem to help.
Overview
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), depression can endure for months or even years. Despite commercially available drugs and therapy interventions, JAMA found that 500,000 depressed people are hospitalized each year for suicidal ideation, with close to 700,000 suicides. You’re not alone if you or someone you love has depression that won’t respond to treatment. Approximately 30% of persons with serious depressive illness experience treatment resistance.
Brain areas that aid in emotion regulation are underactive. Hyperactive regions are those that encourage negative feelings. A new technology specifically tackles the core functional brain mechanisms of depression for people who don’t find relief from medicine or conventional treatments. New treatments are being tested by researchers, such as SAINT depression treatment. The brain region linked to mood regulation is directly stimulated as part of this depression treatment.
What is SAINT depression treatment?
Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy is referred to as SAINT. Similar to transcranial magnetic stimulation, it is an intensive, customized kind of treatment for depression. A start-up business called Magnus Medical, based in Burlingame, California distributes the Stanford device. Based on the technological foundation, Magnus has a license for SAINT treatment. The founding group has mostly handled the research for this unique system.
The SAINT device is used to administer Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT). Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS), a compressed treatment protocol, is used in SAINT, a more recent method compared to TMS. A conventional TMS treatment is given with iTBS in a shorter amount of time.
In the mental and medical fields, SAINT gained attention when clinical study findings were released in 2020. In that trial, after just 5 days of therapy, 19 of 21 patients with severe resistant depression experienced remission.
The outcomes of another experiment, conducted in 2021, were no less impressive: after 5 days of undergoing brain stimulation by the SAINT protocol, 79 percent of the 29 individuals experienced remission. Since participants were randomly assigned to “active therapy” and placebo groups and both doctors and patients were “blinded” as to which patients were receiving the active treatment, this result was seen to be much more important.
Alan Schatzberg, M.D., of Stanford, and a member of BBRF’s Scientific Council, says that
The SAINT protocol cleared by the FDA is groundbreaking and could help many patients with the major depressive disorder who have not responded to treatment with antidepressants. Not only did SAINT help most of those who received it; the improvements were dramatic, rapid, and frequently sustained through the study follow-up period.
Alan Schatzberg, M.D., of Stanford
🍼 Related Blog: Postpartum depression in men: Symtomps & Treatment
How SAINT works?
By tailoring the magnetic pulses to each patient’s neurocircuitry and delivering more pulses at a faster rate, SAINT improves that treatment.
In the study, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which controls executive skills including problem-solving and regulating undesirable behaviors, was first identified using MRI as the ideal region to target in each subject. The subregion having the strongest connections to the subgenual cingulate, a region of the brain that is hyperactive in depressed individuals, is where the stimulation was delivered. Transcranial magnetic stimulation improves the communication between the two areas, enabling modulation of subgenual cingulate activity by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Additionally, instead of 600 pulses every session, the researchers used 1,800. (The greater quantity has been safely applied in other types of brain stimulation for neurological conditions including Parkinson’s disease.) Additionally, they gave participants 10 treatments totaling 10 minutes each, separated by 50-minute pauses, as opposed to only one treatment per day.
Both the control and active treatment groups wore noise-canceling headphones and received a topical ointment to dull the sensation. For the control group, the researchers faked the treatment with a magnetic coil that mirrored the experience of the magnetic pulse. Both the participant and the researcher doing the technique were unaware of whether the participant was receiving treatment.
Who can use SAINT depression treatment
Research indicates that SAINT depression treatment is intended for those with depression who have failed previous treatments.
In a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial, treatment with the SAINT system resulted in fast remission, or a significant reduction of depressive symptoms, in 79% of patients with severe depression.
Dr. Nolan Williams
Dr. Nolan Williams, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University Medical Center, who conducted the SAINT system treatment trials.
Participants in the research ranged in age from 22 to 80, and they had experienced depression on average for nine years. They had attempted medication, but either it had no impact or it had ceased to function. Throughout the trial, participants who were taking meds kept taking them as prescribed; those who took none before didn’t start any.
In the first four weeks following treatment, 12 of the 14 patients showed improvement, and 11 of them satisfied FDA standards for remission. Only two of the 15 subjects who had taken the placebo, in contrast, met the remission criterion.
Researchers hope SAINT can be used to quickly treat patients who are in a crisis because study participants frequently felt better within days of beginning it. Usually, patients with depression who start taking medicine don’t see any improvement in their symptoms for a month.
Williams stated,
We want to bring this into psychiatric wards and emergency rooms so we can treat patients who are in a psychiatric emergency.
Williams
Van Brocklin claimed that he had undergone some drastic changes after going home after receiving treatment. He confessed,
I truly want to get my life together. I don’t procrastinate anymore. I’m getting better sleep. I entirely gave up drinking. I’m taking my dog for a stroll while picking up the guitar once more just for fun. I’m remaining optimistic and showing respect for others. In my life, these are significant changes.
Van Brocklin
SAINT depression treatment: Conclusion
Patients with depression who have failed previous treatments may benefit from SAINT, a sort of noninvasive therapy. This regimen for treating depression provides an alternative that can assist in regulating mood. Researchers are enthusiastic even though more information is required to assess SAINT’s effectiveness.
References
Erickson, M. (2021, October 28). Experimental depression treatment is nearly 80% effective in controlled study. Stanford Medicine. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/10/depression-treatment.html
FDA Clears SAINT Rapid-Acting Brain Stimulation Approach for Those Suffering From Resistant Major Depression. (2022, September 15). Brain & Behavior Research Foundation |. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.bbrfoundation.org/content/fda-clears-saint-rapid-acting-brain-stimulation-approach-those-suffering-resistant-major
Washington, N. (2022, August 22). An Inside Look at SAINT Depression Treatment. Psych Central. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://psychcentral.com/depression/saint-depression-treatment
SAINT depression treatment - stride in medicine...
November 28, 2022[…] Research shows SAINT depression treatment is intended for depressed patients failing previous treatments. Let's explore how effective it is. […]