An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression, a debilitating disease that effects your mood, attitude, and everyday activities. Depression is caused by a combination of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Symptoms of depression include loss of energy, noticeable increases or decreases in sleeping or appetite, feelings of sadness, worthlessness, or anxiety. Some also experience recurring thoughts of death or suicide.

For many who seek treatment, medicine and other therapies offer hope. For patients that do not respond to aggressive medicine, the NCP System by Cyberonics offers an alternative.

First approved in 1997 by the FDA for use in treating epilepsy, this experimental device is being implanted into the chest to stimulate the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve carries impulses to the brain that effect mood and sleep.

A new study of this device is taking place at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Thirty patients who suffered from treatment-resistant depression were implanted with the NCP System. After eight weeks of nerve stimulation, 40% of the patients studied responded positively to the treatment. In fact those patients depressive conditions improved by 50%. Rush is planning to expand the study to include sixty patients in the near future. This 38-55 gram device will also be tested in Houston, TX, Charleston, SC, and New York City, NY.