Is carotid stenting the new antidepressant?
Using a stent to open a narrowed carotid artery reduces symptoms of depression that may be related to carotid stenosis, according to a study in the August issue of Radiology.
Patients with the stent showed significantly fewer depressive symptoms than others, said researchers at Vienna General Hospital and Medical School in Vienna, Austria.
Plaque in the carotid artery causes stenosis, reducing blood flow to the brain. It can narrow the opening and lead to stroke. In the past, surgery has been standard treatment, but stenting is becoming more accepted as a minimally invasive alternative. An interventional radiologist uses an image-guided system and a guide wire to reach the narrow area, expand a balloon and deploy the stent.
Recent studies have shown that some depressive disorders may be caused by cerebrovascular diseases that reduce blood flow to the brain, collectively known as "vascular depression."
In a study of 143 patients with carotid stenosis, researchers found that patients with a high level of carotid stenosis had many more depressive symptoms than the controls. About one-third of the patients with carotid stenosis had the symptoms, compared to 16.7 percent of the control group. With stenting, the number dropped to 9.8 percent of the patients compared with 13 percent of the patients who had undergone angioplasty.
It is not, however, a treatment for major depression.