Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: 210-567-2579
E-mail: sansom@uthscsa.edu

South Texans living with depression are invited to ask about a groundbreaking clinical research study launching at the Behavior Wellness (Be Well) Center for Clinical Trials, a psychiatric research unit of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Brain wave patterns
The study, which will evaluate the use of brain wave patterns to predict positive responses to specific medications, will bring some of the latest thought in the field of psychiatry to the treatment of these South Texans.

Individuals are invited to call 210-562-5400 to ask about eligibility. The Be Well Center is in the Health Science Center department of psychiatry.

EEGs may predict response to medications
This clinical research study will focus on whether brain waves recorded during EEGs (electroencephalograms) can be used to better predict which antidepressants may be most effective in individuals.

The EEG study, sponsored by CNS Response Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif., will enroll volunteers who, during their current depressive episode, have been treated unsuccessfully with three or more antidepressant regimens, with each treatment lasting at least four weeks. CNS Response has a proprietary database of 4,000 patients, both depressed and healthy, who have had EEGs. The company believes it has found a way to identify trends for people who have susceptibilities to certain classes of medications.

Compare to standard of care
The EEG study will compare use of this database with TMAP (Texas Medication Algorithm Project), an existing set of protocols for depression treatment based on best practices of psychiatrists. TMAP was developed, in part, at the Health Science Center several years ago.

Pedro L. Delgado, M.D., is the principal investigator of the EEG study.
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“Neurologists who have used EEGs have noticed different brain activity based on medications taken and dosages of medications,” said EEG study principal investigator Pedro L. Delgado, M.D., the Dielmann Professor and chairman of the department of psychiatry. “The hypothesis is that we will be able to more successfully treat a person with a medication because the EEG recorded before treatment begins indicates that a response is more likely.”

CNS-EEG study description: Adults 18 and older are eligible, with certain exclusions; one of the exclusions is pregnancy; the study duration is screening plus 10 weeks; 50-60 subjects are sought; participants must have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder; subjects must have failed three or more antidepressant regiments during the current depressive episode with a duration of at least four weeks for each treatment; participants will stop all medication, with a few exceptions, at study entry for a specified period of time; subject compensation will be available depending on time in study.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $536 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $14.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.