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Adjunctive HALF-MIS Technology Beats Antidepressants Alone
Key clinical point: High Amplitude Low Frequency-Music Impulse Stimulation (HALF‐MIS) technology, a form of vagus nerve stimulation, significantly improves depression scores when used in addition to usual depression treatment in a psychiatric center.
Major finding: The difference in scores from baseline on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was significantly higher for patients treated with HALF-MIS, compared with controls (5.55 vs. 1.60).
Study details: The data come from a randomized pilot study of 38 adults aged 18 through 70 with depression being treated as outpatients at a psychiatric center in Denmark.
Disclosures: Gudrun Agusta Sigurdardóttir, MD, had no financial conflicts to disclose. Two coauthors are investors and co-inventors of the HALF-MIS technology.
Sigurdardóttir GA et al. Brain Behav. 2019 Sep 11. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1399.