Rapid Relief From Major Depression? New Biomarker Identified That Accurately Predict Effective Drug For Depressed People
For those who are diagnosed with major depression treatment is often a long, slow process. There are a myriad of anti depression medications on the market but no single test or biomarker exists to help medical professionals pinpoint which of these drugs may be most suitable for an individual patient’s treatment. This often leads to patients having to try treatment after treatment, until they stumble upon the one that does work for them.
A new study conducted by researchers at UCLA may help change all that though. They believe they have discovered how a test could be developed that will identify the most effective drug within a week, and which takes a mere fifteen minutes to administer.
The study, called the Biomarkers for Rapid Identification of Treatment Effectiveness in Major Depression, or BRITE-MD, measured the changes in the brain wave patterns of study participants by making use of quantitative electroencephalography, or QEEG, a completely non invasive technique that uses computers to measure specific alterations in brain wave patterns. The changes that they were looking for were those that precede an improvement in general mood by weeks. The researchers believe they are a “biomarker” and that study of them can accurately predict how effective any given medication is likely to be for an individual’s treatment for depression.
The study focused on 957 people located at various sites around the country who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. At the beginning of the study each participant underwent a baseline QEEG study. Once those results were accessed each patient was prescribed the drug escitalopram, known commercially as Lexapro. After having followed the medication regime for one week they were all given a second QEEG test. In each of the studies researchers focused upon the biomarker called the antidepressant treatment response index, which they describe as a specific brain wave pattern change from the original, or baseline test.
Subjects were then divided into separate groups. Some continued to take the Lexapro while the others were prescribed an alternative medication. Of the 79 people who remained on the Lexapro regime for the next 49 days 73% demonstrated a clinical manifestation of symptoms that accurately matched the predictions of the biomarker testing. The accuracy of this method is far higher than anything else available to medical professionals at this time and should prove to be a wonderful diagnostic aid.
September 13th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
When will this test be available for my doctor to help my treatment?