%0 Journal Article
%T Pregnancy and delivery while receiving vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of major depression: a case report
%A Mustafa M Husain
%A Diane Stegman
%A Kenneth Trevino
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2005
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1744-859x-4-16
%X The patient began receiving VNS therapy for TRD in March 1999. The therapy was effective, producing substantial reductions in depressive symptoms and improvement of function. In 2002, the patient reported that she was pregnant. She continued receiving VNS therapy throughout her pregnancy, labor, and delivery, which enabled the sustained remission of her depression. The pregnancy was uneventful; a healthy daughter was delivered at full term.In this case, VNS therapy provided effective treatment for TRD during pregnancy and delivery. VNS was safe for the patient and her child.A pregnant patient with major depression requires effective management of depressive symptoms for her own health and that of her child. Estimates of the prevalence of depression among pregnant women vary widely, ranging from 3.3% for major depression [1] to 20% for any type of depression [2]. Rates of depression may be as high as 51% in selected populations [3]. These rates compare with a 12-month worldwide prevalence of depression of 9.5% in women [4]. Among pregnant women with depression, many are untreated, sometimes discontinuing treatment for depression after becoming pregnant [1,5].Depression during pregnancy can have many serious consequences. For the mother, depression is associated with an overall decline in general health, physical and social functioning, an increase in the experience of pain [3], and obstetric complications [6-8]. Depression in late pregnancy is associated with post-partum depression [2], while depression in early pregnancy increases the risk of preeclampsia, a major complication characterized by rapidly progressive hypertension with proteinuria, edema, or both [9]. For the infant, maternal depression during pregnancy was associated with admission to a neonatal intensive care unit [7] and with spontaneous preterm delivery in one study [10] but not in another [11].Because of the importance of managing depression during pregnancy, numerous studies have examined the effec
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/4/1/16